The 25th Annual Hunger Games
by Skeltons in the closet
Summary: Katna Rosen, a 14 year old girl living in District 8 of Panem, gets chosen for the 25th annual Hunger Games, the first Quarter Quell, and what's worse than being thrown into an arena to kill or be killed? Being thrown in with your best friend. Drake Darby also gets elected for this televised fight to the last man standing, but who will win? Will Katna be emotionally ready to kill?
1. Chapter 1

**Oh yes I did Just combine bending with the Hunger Games, this is set to be the 25th annual Hunger Games, the first Quarter Quell, it's in the point of view of a young girl 14 years old from District 8, actually this story has lots of things from my actual life, like the girl is my personality and her best friend is my best friend, she has as many siblings as I do and they're personalities are based off my siblings, her friends are my friends, I've just given them odd and somewhat unique names, some events are based off events from my life just changed somewhat to fit the story line better. Note: I do not own the Hunger Games. Some things in this story are direct quotes from Suzanne Collins book the Hunger Games, like when it describes the district as an urban place and whatnot that is a direct quotation from when Katniss sees it and describes it, so if you haven't read the Hunger Games I encourage you to! Best books ever! The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay are the best books I've ever read, anywho after that long authors note here comes a long chapter, enjoy and Happy Reading!**

** The 25th Annual Hunger Games**

Chapter 1

I just sit in bed. Staring at the floor, questioning if my existence is worth it. I sigh and stand, walking to the almost empty closet I get out my old t-shirt and jeans, I dress quickly as I don't want to be late.

I put on my old brown boots that are covered in mud from hiking in yesterday's rain storm. Just before I head out I realize my hair is gonna get in the way. I quickly braid it off to the side and then wander to the kitchen to find something to eat.

I find a couple grapes and scoop them up into my pocket. Quietly opening the door so as not to wake my other siblings I step outside into the the fog of the early morning. I don't know if mothers already at work or not, but I walk on anyways. I'm from District 8, we are the manufacturers of cloth or woven fabric. We make all the fancy clothes the Capitol people are so obsessed with. I live in the South Eastern corner of District 8, not a very pleasant place but good enough compared to the other districts.

Of the 12 remaining districts, 8 has the largest population, back many years ago we were in rebellion, our district fought against the Peacekeepers and we would've beat them too, except the Capitol sent in dozens more Peacekeepers and used hovercrafts to bomb the rebel strongholds. Everything went into lockdown mode, and no one was allowed out of their houses for a while. The factories were shut down and the only time the TV played anything other than static was when it showed suspected rebel instigators being executed. Eventually things returned to normal, but the Capitol blew up one large factory when they found out the talk of rebellion started there.

We are one of the poorest of the 12 districts, we live in an urban place stinking of industrial fumes with no greenery, the people here are housed in run down tenements, barely a blade of grass is in sight. But my family of five manages just fine. My father died in the factory explosion during our rebellion, I have an older brother and a younger sister, and a younger brother.

I'm afraid for my sister, she's eleven, next year she'll be old enough to enter the Hunger Games. A terrible thing really, things have gone completely out of balance since the assassination of the Avatar. He was killed by a man years ago who wanted to change the entire way of life. He claimed he was gonna make things better but the result was The Hunger Games. Each year one boy and one girl from each district is selected to take part in a gruesome fight to the finish. With one victor, kids from ages 12 to 18 fight to win an extra amount of food for their district, it's a televised event for the entertainment purposes of, mainly the Capitol and the President.

I shiver in the cold of the morning. It would be nice to have a warm jacket, but the Capitol won't let us keep any clothing we might make, it all goes to them. Peacekeepers are everywhere, it's tough enough living in these conditions without having them constantly hovering over you making sure you don't break their laws.

I see a Peacekeeper by the fence eating a pastry. Normally I'd roll my eyes at how lucky they are, my stomach would growl and I'd walk on. But this time it's different, this time there's a little girl standing next to him. I've seen her around before, she looks to be five and has blonde tangly hair and a dirt covered face.

She's talking to the Peacekeeper, pleading with him. I move closer to try and catch what they say. Suddenly the man raises his gun ready to hit the poor child. Instinctively I move forward to intercept and before I knew it the gun collided with my face.

I fall to the ground and after a moment of excruciating pain I stand up in front of the girl. "Leave her alone," I say gritting my teeth, my hands have formed fists. The man stares at me with a blank expression. "I said leave her alone!" I say in a louder voice. I know I could get into massive trouble for speaking out but I can't help it. She's just a little girl.

"Get out of my way and let me do my job!" He demands shoving me aside. The girl whimpers and curls up in fear. I come back and shove this mans shoulders. "Back off!" I say angrily. Suddenly two more Peacekeepers come and grab my arms.

The first man who hit me with his gun punched me in the gut. I shrivel up in pain, my empty stomach now twirled. "Hey hey! What's going on?!" One of the new arrivals asks. "This girl came at me for no reason! I suspect she's a rebel," That's a lie. Plain and simple. I want to speak up but can't for two reasons; one, my stomach is still hollow, two, no matter what I say they'll believe one of their own rather than me, a poor kid from District 8.

"Hey, today's the day of the reaping k, maybe she'll get picked and we won't have to worry about punishment," One of them states with a smile. The pastry eater grins and nods understandingly. I take in sharp ragged breathes. 'Today is the day of the reaping' his words swarm my mind. 'Maybe she'll get picked' everyone from our district is usually the first to die in the Hunger Games. They always end up being killed in the first 24 hours of the games.

Am I doomed to failure if I get picked for the girl tribute of this district? There aren't many volunteers from our district, no one else wants to be killed for anyone else.

The Peacekeepers let me go and walk off. After crouching on my knees and holding my stomach as I rock back and forth, I look up to the girl. "You ok?" I ask dryly. "Yes, you didn't have to do that," She whispers fearfully. I smile through my pain. "It's ok, what's your name?" I ask gently so as not to scare her further. "Shimmery," She answers brightening a little. "Cool, where's your home?" I ask further. Shimmery shrugs and her eyes wander. "Wherever I want-" She says with a small voice. "Well, where's your family?" The pain in my stomach lightens somewhat. "They're dead, the men in white killed them," I nod slowly understanding.

I attempt to stand but can't yet so I stay down on my knees. "Ok, why did that man try to hit you with his gun?" I am curious about what they talked about before I stepped in and was hit on the face. "He was eating something and I was hungry so I asked if I could have one too but he said no," I understand now. The Peacekeepers get full meals three times a day whereas everyone else is lucky to find a bread crumb off the streets. "Your face is hurt, want me to fix it?" I'm not quite sure what this girl means so I ask. "My mommy was a doctor, she taught me a little, your face is bleeding do you want me to fix it?" I smile at her and nod. She smiles too for the first time and extends her hand to me. I take it and, even though she couldn't help me up if she tried, I stand on my own.

She leads me off to a shack where she pulls out a small beat-up medical kit. I sit down and watch as she carefully pulls out a box of band-aids and gently takes off the paper surrounding it. "So is this where you live?" I ask looking around. There's only three walls, one of which has many holes in it, the fourth wall has been taken out completely, you can't even see the floor it's covered in so much rubble and debris, I'm sitting on a broken piece of the wall that doesn't look like it'll hold up very well.

"Sometimes, I have stuff like this hidden all over the place," She explains holding up the medical box. I nod and glance out the window. Sitting in the sill is a cat. Another look and I realize it's my cat. I've had her since she was a baby, I raised her. I am her mother, she'd like to follow me everywhere but I can't let her.

I coax her over with the clicking sound I make by pressing my tongue against my top set of teeth and bottom lip, then pull my lip out making a clicking-squeaking sound. Shimmery looks to what I'm doing and sees the cat scamper down and run to me.

Keiko. That's her name, she's the most beautiful cat you've ever seen, she's calico she has a white stomach and chin and legs, she's got black and grey stripes down her back with spots of orange stripes, she has green eyes, like me, and a long tail.

She keeps herself clean unlike most everything in this district. And despite her slender figure she's pretty plump, I suspect she's been going to the Peacekeepers and begging for food. Food that she gets nonetheless. After all, who could resist such a pretty face? I stroke her back gently and she purrs. Shimmery just watches on in awe.

"Is she your cat?" The young girl asks finally. "Yes," I always give simple answers to strangers. Even if they're adorable little girls. It's just a force of habit. "Oh, she's pretty," Shimmery doesn't touch her, she just looks. Which is probably a good idea, Keiko isn't a very nice cat, she's only nice to me because I fed her when she was young and raised her, we used to have a goat that I'd get milk from, I'd always feed my kitten with that. But sadly the goat died of starvation.

The cat must've had enough love for this morning, she jumps off my lap and runs away. "Thanks for the band aid," I tell Shimmery. She smiles. "You're welcome," She says in her sweet little voice. I stand preparing to leave. "I gotta go now, I'm late for meeting a friend," As I walk toward the missing wall I stop suddenly remembering the grapes in my pocket. I walk back and hand them to Shimmery who gasps and stares at them in disbelief. "You may have them, a gift for helping me with my face," I say smiling as bright as I can. She takes them gently as if they're gonna disappear if she's too rough.

"Thank you!" She half whispers. I nod and walk away satisfied.

As many Peacekeepers as there are here, I can manage to slip past them every day. There's a hole in the fence that I can just fit through. A shadow cast delicately hides it during the day, and at night it's too dark to see anyway.

I am a Shadow Bender, which makes escaping ten times easier. I can take my shadow and cover myself in it so I almost seem invisible. Unless you were looking very closely no one would be able to spot me slip through the hole in the fence and silently creep through the forest out if sight.

I like the forest, all it's greenery makes up for not having any within our district limits. I wander through the paper birch trees and listen to the birds sing.

I start humming a five note tune as I walk. For all that talk about Shadow Benders not having good eyesight mine is actually pretty good. I can still do the whole 'seeing with my feet' thing but my eyes are pretty sharp, I guess maybe that's because my father was a Light Bender, and they were known for their especially good eyesight.

Halting and tilting my head a little, I hear the birds. They've copied my little song and are now singing throughout the forest. I smile to myself.

I've finally reached the top hill where my best friend and I always meet. He sits there alone, throwing stones over the edge of the hill into the water.

I sneak over and then jump down beside him. He jolts and then smiles. "I thought you were a Peacekeeper come to take me away," He says as he resumes his rock tossing. I smile as well and pick up a few rocks to throw with him. "Nope, just me," I say tossing a rock high into the air and listening as it hits the water below.

He turns to look at me for the first time and that's when he notices my small band aid and bruised face. "What happened?" He asks sounding a little demanding. He's got this thing about him, when he's worried his voice sounds more angry than concerned. But that's ok with me, I've known him since I was born so I know he means well. Both our mothers were best friends since high school, that's why we've known each other so long, our mothers are constantly visiting each other and trying to help each other survive.

"A Peacekeeper was gonna hurt a little girl so I stepped in and he hit me," He gets an angry look in his eye, he's gotten that look before, but it usually goes right away. This time it stays. "Drake, I'm fine, he would've hit the little girl if I hadn't intervened," I tell him pleadingly. "I just wish I'd been there, I coulda taken the hit for you, I'm a lot tougher it wouldn't have hurt me as much," He gently strokes his finger across my injured cheek. I smile and take his hand off carefully.

"It's ok," His face brightens and he turns away reaching in his pocket. "I got some cheese for us, I cleaned a lady's house and she gave it to me," He says enthusiastically. It's kind of like our tradition that we both bring a little something to share before we go hunting, so I felt guilty about not having anything. "Oh, um, I gave our grapes to that little girl, Shimmery," I tell him and his shoulders droop. "Those would've been great with this," He says glancing at the cheese in his palm. I know they would be, but-"She was starving, I had to do something," He's always been a little skeptical of my need to help people. Where I feel the need to do what I can when I can, he's always been the practical one who says we'll die too, it's one of the things that's drawn us together.

"Yeah, it's fine, we'll be ok with just the cheese," After having an argument a few weeks ago he's come to respect my decisions on helping others, he no longer questions them or criticizes them. But he doesn't agree either, he just nods and compromises as best he can. We eat the cheese in silence for the next few minutes.

"Ok Katna, what's on the menu for eats today?" He says jokingly and stands. He extends his hand to help me up and we head off to hunt our family some food. Drake is a Shadow Bender as well, also one of the reasons we're best friends, we can relate to each other in bending skill as well as we both don't have fathers.

His father is still alive though, he just left his mother and was later moved, by the Capitol, to a different district. To my knowledge he's still alive as he sends money every few years. He doesn't give the money willingly though, he's being forced by someone to give money to his poor ex wife and kids, and he doesn't pay the exact amount either. But I guess that's none of my business.

We trek through the woods silently. Over the years we've learned to walk without breaking a single twig which would scare away anything we'd be trying to kill.

I guess us sneaking out of our district every day has made us better survivors than most of the kids our age in District 8. If either of us were chosen for the Hunger Games we'd have a better chance of actually surviving the first 24 hours, but I know I'd never want to be in the Hunger Games and I definitely don't want Drake going in that death trap. But what would make it worse is if we had to go in together, because we'd have to kill each other. I shiver at the thought, maybe he and I wouldn't have to hunt each other down, we could easily be killed by any of the other 22 tributes.

There's a rabbit just ahead. Drake looks to me and nods his head, our code for 'You can have this one' I nod back and turn to face the small white animal. Reaching my hand back I bend my shadow up in front of me, the black smokey silhouette hovers in front of me waiting for me to twist my hand and bend it to a bow, with the extra part of my shadow I create a black arrow and harden the tip.

Aiming carefully I pull the shadow string back and release the arrow. It flies swiftly through the wind and strikes the rabbit in the side, killing the creature before disappearing.

Drake and I both run over and pick up the little animal and stuff it in a hunters bag before moving on. We don't talk much while we hunt, we might give away our location to the animals and besides that there's not much to talk about. I suppose we could be like other kids and talk about all the stuff that goes on at school, but we're not gossipers.

"I so would've had him if you hadn't stepped in!" I say playfully as Drake and I start heading back to the district limits. "Oh no, you would have missed and then I'd be left with no lunch!" His fingers find there way to my most ticklish spot; my ribs.

I squeal and impulsively jerk away. I drop the hunting bag and run as Drake chases me tickling me whenever he gets the chance. "No!" I squeak and squeal every time his fingers grip my sides, arm pits, and belly.

We finally stop as we're both out of breath. This is the only place we can be ourselves. At home we have to be the strong, brave, older kids, we have to be smart and take care of our siblings. At school we have to keep quiet or be beaten by the Principal. Around the district we have to be perfect citizens or risk being badly hurt or even killed by the Peacekeepers.

This is like our safe haven, a place of peace and freedom. This is us. Our world. "We should get back, they're probably worried," Drake says with a slight laugh. "It was fun, be back tomorrow same time?" He asks excitedly. "Of course," I say as I stand. We walk back to where we left the hunters bags and grab them and split. He's got his own way into the district that's close to his home.

Using my Shadowflage I creep through the hole and make my way to the local trade center. It's actually just a run down warehouse, but it's where everyone goes to trade things for food or clothing. And it's where I'm going to trade my rabbit and squirrel for things we need.

"Two of these and three of those," My father taught me how to bargain when I was very young, the people here do drive hard bargains but I've made up a reputation of always being able to beat them. Right now I'm trying to trade my squirrel for a basket of berries and two apples, my siblings love berries. The squirrel I caught is bigger than most any squirrel that's been brought here for any of them.

Sarry, an old woman who's worked the trade center for as long as I can remember, thinks a moment before making a deal. "Alright take the berries," She finally hands me the basket and I give her the squirrel.

"You are so much like your father," I hear her mumble before I walk off. I take a look through some of the little nicknacks they've all collected. Many people here have put almost there whole lives into this business, I don't know what they'd do if the Capitol finally decides to shut them down. They'd all be broke and have no where to go.

As I look through a small box of old things I find a gold locket, opening it up I find inside a faded picture of a young man and on the other half is a ripped picture of a young girl, she's beautiful. I wonder who owned this before the trade people found it. There's an unspoken rule around here that no one can steal for their merchandise, they're only allowed to sell what they find.

I look up to the man selling these items. "How much for this?" I ask. He's an old worn man, he's gone bald and he doesn't smile. I twist the locket around in my hand and smile at him. Immediately he lights up, a smile spreads across his features and his eyes go wide. He reaches up and closes my hands around the piece of jewelry.

"Your smile is enough," He says in a slight accent. "Oh no, I can't do that, I have to give you something," I tell him. I'm not one to take charity, well not usually. "You did give me something," He says and I don't understand. I look to him confused and he goes on, "You just gave me a better day, a reminder of what my old life was like, you gave me hope young lady," His hands are still clasped around my own and he squeezes them with a large grin. Finally he lets go and rushes me on. "Go go, have a good day," He says in that accent, I wish I could pinpoint where he must be from, his accent is too strong for him to have been born in Panem, but I move on just as he instructed. I put the necklace around my neck and look further.

The last thing I need to do before heading back to the shack I call home, is trade my rabbit for some money. My mother has no idea Drake and I go out of the district limits, she thinks we got a job somewhere and that's where we are half the day. Drake's mother has no idea either, we'd like to keep it that way, the less things they have to worry about the better.

On the way home I stop by a friends house to buy some bread from them, they're the richest people in our district but they're still pretty poor as it is. They've got an oven that works and almost an entire house to live in, it's got four walls that are standing upright and a full roof, something no one else in this district has. They're known for their bread, the best anyone's ever tasted. They sell it but most people can't afford to buy any of it. Today I can.

I knock at their door, another unbroken thing nobody else has. The door swings open revealing a tall slender girl my age in a white dress. Her eyes are red, she's obviously been crying. I go to school with this girl, I think her names Cynthia, but we don't talk at all, we're not exactly friends but we don't hate each other or even dislike each other. It's just a matter of shyness that we don't speak.

"Katta right?" She says sniffling. I don't think she knows I can tell she's been crying. "Katna," I correct her in a shy low tone. "Oh, what are you doing here?" She asks. I don't think she was trying to be rude or anything, she was just curious. "I came to buy some bread," I explain in that same dead tone. My shyness has ruined so many good opportunities. I hate myself for being so shy, but I can never bring myself to be outgoing like most other girls my age.

"Oh, I'll get Papa," She leaves the door ajar and scampers away to get her father. I'm left standing on their broken porch awkwardly. Not knowing what to do I just look around in a wide circle. This lot is pretty much empty, there's a little brown dead grass in one spot, and a fence with a goat grazing in it next to the house. Behind me is an old broken half-shack it looks abandoned but looks can be deceiving, Cynthia's father has come to the door now.

"Yes you've come for bread?" He asks in a sad depressing voice. I nod awkwardly and shyly. He brings out from behind the door a basket full of the warm food. I take my pick and give him the money. We exchange a curt nod and I leave.

I'm certain the sadness that family is experiencing is because today is the day of the reaping, they'll come and draw the name of one boy and one girl tribute to join in the Hunger Games I sigh as I make my way back home. The Capitol is cruel to invent this annual reminder of just how powerful they are, to remind us not to rebel against them. It's horror.

"Katna!" My seven year old brother is the first to acknowledge my return. "Hey," I say with a smile. "What did you bring?" He asks excitedly looking at my bag. "I've got some real treats this time," I tell him pressing a finger to my lips for him to be quiet.

I walk to what's supposed to be the kitchen, our 'house' is a two room hut, the first room is a combination of the living room, dining room, and kitchen. The second room is the bedroom for all of us. Our beds are separated only by a single torn curtain. The girls on one side and the two boys on the other.

One of our walls is only half standing, the other half lay just outside shattered across the ground as a reminder that we are inferior to those from the Capitol and the Peacekeepers. My sister stole something once so the Peacekeepers stormed our house, breaking our wall and my mothers heart. They had proof that my sister stole from them even though she denied it and claimed to be elsewhere. I believed the Peacekeeper, my sister has stole from people all the time, I think she does it for attention, mothers always working and my brother and I are usually busy trying to find work of our own or help keep everyone else safe, and a seven year old isn't fun to play with.

Zinnia is her name. She was named after a flower, she is pretty like a flower, she has dirty blonde hair but it still looks nice, she has freckles dotting her entire face just like our older brother, Zerek. She has blue eyes that show innocence even though she is usually far from it.

She's what you call a compulsive liar, she herself believes the lies she tells others. There's no way to get her to stop, but she is my own sister, so I can't help but love her even though she's broken my trust more times than I can count.

My little brother on the other hand, couldn't be more honest, and that gets him into trouble sometimes. If someone looks stupid or ugly he'll freely say so, which usually ends in him getting into a fight and being blamed for it and getting beaten half to death by the Principal.

We've tried explaining to him that you need to keep your mouth shut about how people look, and that it's not only rude but gets you into too much trouble, but he doesn't get it. He doesn't understand. Zerek is extremely shy, I mean he talks to me and tells me everything, he can be himself around me. But around strangers and even around mom he's quiet and keeps to himself. I've learned how to read his face, I can tell what he's thinking just by looking at him.

I set the bag down on our only table and look around. "Who all is home?" I ask Merlin. "Just me, Zinnia was here, but she left with Elainia," I nod, my best friends youngest sister is my sisters best friend. Those two get into so much trouble together, Elainia is a diva who acts like she's princess of everything, that combined with my sisters habit of lying and being manipulative can be a dangerous thing. One day they're going to be taken away by Peacekeepers and my mother will go off the edge, when dad died she locked herself away from everything, she was so heart broken. I can only imagine what would happen if one of us were to be taken from her.

I sigh and slump to one of our two chairs. "Do you know when Zerek will be back?" I ask hopefully. "No," Merlin just scampers away to play with his 'toys'. They're actually just little sticks he found outside and tied together with string to make stick people.

I'm glad he at least had something to play with, with the way the world is its hard for anyone to find joy in anything anymore.

I reach for the hunters bag and peek inside in case somehow it's contents disappeared. The berries, apples, bread, and money is still inside. I smile to myself and then wonder what Drake got for his family. He has a smaller family than me, he also has a nicer shack to live in. But I'm not complaining, ours is good enough.

I glance at the TV in the corner. The Capitol made sure every person had access to a television so they could watch the Hunger Games live every year. Right now I wish we had a clock so I could see what time it is. Then I walk to the window and look out as I'm reminded of when I was younger and my father taught me how to tell time by looking at the sun, it's about two thirty-ish, mom should be coming home. She gets out of work at the factory early on the day of the Reaping.

Just as the thought enters my head she walks through the door. She doesn't smile, she hasn't since dad died. "Where's Zerek?" I ask her plainly. "He had to help at the factory a little longer, he should be back soon," Mom whispers in a sad monotone. I nod and grab my hunters bag. Moms eyes stick on it as I walk out of the room, it used to be dads, he was the one who cut the hole in that electric fence and taught me how to hunt.

I gently toss the bag under my cot before flopping down on it. I kick off my boots carelessly and that's when the TV starts wiring up. I jump out of the room and rush over to see what's going on. Mom sits in one chair and Merlin sits on the floor.

Both are staring fixedly at the screen as an image of President Rust is flashed across the screen.

"Citizen's of Panem," A deep booming voice rang, "It is time for the very first Quarter Quell!"

Cheers erupted from the Capitol audience. "At the end of the dark days, a committee of very wise men and women had created the event known as the Quarter Quell. This event would take place every 25 years. Each Quell would have a brand new stipulation for the Hunger Games which will add a new twist to the fun!"

The audience was roaring with excitement.

"Such stipulations were planned in that very meeting so that no conflict of interests would sway the Quell. So without further ado," Rust reaches into a small box pulling out an envelope labeled 25, gingerly opening it and letting the crowd become silent with joyous anticipation.

He draws a small card from the envelope and grins devilishly.

"In order to remind each remaining District that it was their very own citizens who rose against the Capitol that loved them so very much, each district will elect two boys and two girl tributes by democratic vote to compete in the 25th annual Hunger Games! Also, another interesting twist I will share as a surprise for the tributes as they enter the arena later!"

The President smiled with a ghastly expression "With that being said, Districts of Panem, May the odds ever be in your favor!" The television is switched off as the announcements are over.

"This is terrible," I turn to see Zerek standing behind my mother who's sitting in the chair silently weeping. "Where's Zinnia?" She asks with teary eyes. "She ran off with Elainia," I say without the slightest hint of sympathy to my voice.

I guess there's a bit of resentment in me toward my mother. When I was younger I needed her badly, but she was never there for me, she was always too busy taking care of my younger sister or too busy at work. She was never there for me, and I hate her for it, I spent many nights curled up outside our house silently crying myself to sleep. No one would even notice I was gone. No one except Zerek, he didn't tell on me. But he did bring me a blanket once and another time asked if I was too cold at night.

When I got older I realized the stupidity in staying outside during the night, so I slept inside most every night but that didn't change my feelings for my mother. I still hate her for all the times she wasn't there for me when I needed her most, and I still hate her for shutting us all out and staying locked up in her room all the time she's not at work.

The door creaked open and I barely heard Zinnia call out to someone, probably Elainia, and then she walked inside only to be greeted by our sullen faces.

"What?" She asks as if she's done something wrong and is preparing to defend herself. "It's the first Quarter Quell," Zerek was the first to say it. "What's a Quarter Quail?" She asks purposely using the wrong word, she likes to play dumb sometimes and see where it gets her. I hate that about her. "Quarter Quell," Merlin corrects her with a roll of his good eye. When he was five he got in an accident with a nail gun, a Peacekeeper was building something and Merlin got in the way resulting in his eye being shot with the nail gun. He pulled the nail out instinctively, luckily he didn't lose his eye, but he is partially blind in it now.

"Where'd you get the locket?" Zinnia's the only one to notice my new nicknack, perhaps she sees it as a new thing to steal. But she's not getting this. "I found it," I tell her simply. I can't say I got it at the trade center, mom doesn't like me going there and that would raise the question of what I was doing.

Zerek explained the Quarter Quell to Zinnia, trying to get back on topic and then I remembered my treats under the bed. I rush to get them and then hurry back. "Fate was kind today and I got us some goodies," I announce with pride. Mother sits up in her chair and Zinnia perks up. Merlin runs up close ensuring that he will be the first to get a look at my treasures. I pull out the two apples and they all stare in awe. Next comes the berries which they all drool over. These are certainly things we never get. Ever.

I dump the coins onto the table and mother quickly scoops them up. "Thank you dear, I'm sure you've worked hard," She says touching my shoulder. I nod silently and she leaves. She has no idea what I do out there with Drake. No idea.

"I don't want to go!" Merlin argued as we tried to get him ready for the Reaping. He's too young to be called up to join the Hunger Games, so he just stands by with my mother and sister. Zerek and I have to actually go up and wait to see if our names will be pulled from the glass bowl. But I guess this years Quarter Quell will be different, people will vote on who goes in. And to top it off they're choosing twice as many tributes. This year there will be 48 tributes in the Hunger Games, 48 kids sent into an arena to kill or be killed. Horror.

"Here, I thought you could wear this," Mother holds up a navy blue dress. I'm assuming its one of her old ones. I don't really want to wear a dress but seeing how I may be sent in to my doom I may as well give her this last moment. I quickly put on the dress and mother does my hair up in a twisted braid bun on top of my head. It doesn't look too ridiculous but it's not something I'd choose to do with my hair.

Zinnia puts on a dress of her own that's too small for her so mother gets something else for her. A soft pink dress that's obviously supposed to be above the knees on an older person, but since she's wearing it the skirt half reaches almost to the floor. She's got a ribbon tied around her waist to hold it up.

We head out to the middle of the district where there's a large fenced in platform. Everyone from ages 12 to 18 slowly file in, my breathing increases as my family moves away, back behind the fence. This year will be even more terrifying because the people outside the fence will be voting to send into the arena the children inside the fence.

My heart rate increases to an even faster pace as my brother leaves me to go to his age group on the boys side. I glance to where the family's of every child stands waiting, watching, whispering. I know everyone else will vote for someone besides their own kids. Why would they even want to send their children in to be killed?

I step up to the lady at a desk. She takes my hand, I look away and wince as she sticks me with a small needle and draws a little blood. The little screen in front of her has my name, age and location of where I live. She waves me off and I walk into the fenced in platform. I am directed to my age group, the group of 14 year olds, where I stand and wait to be called on.

"Testing! Testing!" The announcer, Meena Menlow, steps up to a microphone and taps it. "Welcome all, and what a pleasant day it is!" She looks up indicating that the sky is blue and beautiful. How can anyone be so happy on the day you're sent to your doom? But I guess Capitol people are happy, they get to stuff themselves with luxurious foods and watch us kill each other off. Meena's hair is a powdery blue as is her makeup and nails and even her clothing.

As she goes on and on about how the rebellion was bad, my eyes revert to the crowd. I'm at the edge of my group, right at the gap between boys and girls. I scan the boys crowd when I finally see him, already looking at me. He smiles reassuring me that everything will be ok. I try to smile back but deep down I know as long as the Capitol rules nothing will be ok.

This morning I questioned wether or not my existence was worth it. Now I feel like its not, if we have to live under Capitol rule where no one is free like this nation was supposed to be then I don't want any part of it. But looking back I spot, through a break in the crowd, Merlin holding tight to the fence and staring directly at me. Then someone moves and I can't see him.

He's known to be overly attached to me, he loves me like a mother because I took care of him while my mother was locked away in her room ignoring us all, or at work too busy for us. My stomach churns as I'm reminded that I might be voted to go into the games.

"Alright, it's time to announce our lucky four tributes!" Meena squeals with excitement. "This first Quarter Quell we had people vote on who would enter the games, plus there are twice as many tributes and a BIG surprise for the tributes once they're in the arena, ooh I can't wait!" She's way too excited about all this. It disgusts me.

"Alright, ladies first!" She has a squeaky voice, way too high pitched to be natural. She unrolls from her hand a piece of paper and holds it up to read. "By popular vote, our first girl tribute is-" She pauses I assume for 'effect' and then moves on. "Tianna Wooven," She looks up and waits. No one steps forward. Then Tianna runs to the platform as Peacekeepers threaten to chase her. I've seen her around school, she's a small little thing. She's got blonde hair and she's really skinny. Skinnier than most people around our district anyway.

She fiddles around with her hands as she stands there shaking like a leaf. "Any volunteers?" Meena asks her voice going higher in anticipation. No one speaks up. I think Tianna is an only child, but none of her friends volunteer. But then, I don't think she has many friends. At school she just follows a boy around all the time, I assume they're best friends, the boy, Kenniathan, already has a girlfriend.

"Alright moving on," Meena's all-too-cheery voice breaks my thoughts. "Second girl tribute-" I hate that she pauses. Just get on with it already! I sigh and my eyes meet Drake's again. He's staring at me like he just saw a ghost. Why? Someone behind me nudges me. I turn around. A Peacekeeper is heading my way and the girl who nudged me is telling me to go up stage.

Was I just called? Did she say my name? My heart is too fast for me to function. She couldn't have, no, the girl must be mistaken. "Katna Rosen?" Yep. My name just rolled off the lips of Meena Menlow. This can't be. No, I won't let it.

My feet are glued to the pavement. The Peacekeepers are getting closer. My foot finally moves and I walk up there and stand beside Meena and my fellow tribute. My heart is racing and I know my face must be red. It tends to do that when I'm nervous or in a crowded room. Meena shakes my hand and I shake Tianna's hand before she moves on. I notice no one volunteers for me.

"Yes yes, now to the boys," She says excitedly. I stare out across the lot. All the girls faces are relieved that they weren't chosen. I wish I could be one of those faces. But no, I'm standing here waiting to be taken to the Hunger Games to be killed.

"Jasper Renshaw," I jerk my head over to see a redhead boy walking forward. I don't know him. But he winks at me just the same. "Any volunteers?"

"I volunteer!"

That voice could only be one person. Drake. No. He can't do that, I know he's only coming to protect me, he thinks it's his job. I can't let him do that, if he got killed while trying to save me I'd never be able to live with myself. What's more if I made it out of the games without him I wouldn't be able to function. I'd surely go insane and kill myself. He can't die, I can't live without my best friend.

"No!" Suddenly I blurt out the word. "You can't do that!" I yell at him as he makes his way up here. Meena stares at me as well as everyone else. But I don't care. I need him to stay home and be safe.

"Stay back! You can't enter the games with me!" I say drastically. He just keeps coming until he's right in front of me. "I am entering, and I will make sure you win," He pushes a stray piece of hair from my eyes. "You can't stop me," He whispers. I bat his hand away from my face.

"Please, don't do this," I whisper in a shaky voice. My entire being is having its own miniature earth quake. I tremble in fear. "I can't live if you're not here to live with me," I say my voice breaking. The look in his eye is one of determination and stubbornness. "And I can't let you die," He says and then walks away to shake Meena's hand then stand beside her on the other side. A tear threatens to escape my eye. Knowing that I'm on live television and my fellow tributes will see me and count me as weak, I take a deep breath and suck it in taking on a tough look.

"Well, well, is she your girlfriend?" Meena asks. I feel the heat rising to my cheeks. My face must be beat red right now. "No," Drake says sharply. "She's my best friend," He explains. Meena nods although she has a sinister look in her eye. Drake is a handsome boy, so I don't think she can see us as being 'just friends', but we are. True I did have a crush on him from the time I was six to the time I was twelve, but I got over it, I came to realize he's like a brother to me. And you don't fall in love with your brother.

"Alright, our next male tribute to be voted for is-" Again with the pausing. Whatever I guess it's fine. It doesn't really matter now. My life is over.

"Kenniathan Applberry," My breathing stops. As the dark skinned boy approaches he glances at me with sorry eyes.

Not him, my mind flashes back to when we were in school several months ago, he used to pass me notes and we would start up a whole conversation. He was so funny, I grew to like him more than I should've. One day at school, while the teacher was busy, he passed me a note asking who my crush was, I wrote a note back saying I couldn't tell. He said I could trust him and I still said no. Truthfully I didn't really have a crush, but I did happen to like him a lot. He passed another note pleading with me to tell him. So I gave him clues, and he tried to guess who it was by asking what color hair he had was he tall what color eyes etc.

Finally he started asking names. He guessed some boys that I'd never think to have crushes on, then he asked me if I liked him. I said maybe and he said, 'Ok not me,' and continued guessing. I passed another note just before the teacher came back that said, 'I never said it want you,' that day after school was over he walked me home and asked me if I liked him. I told him it depends.

"Depends on what?" He asked with a sweet smile that made my stomach twist. "On wether or not you think that's creepy," I said back not looking at him directly but quietly looking away. "What if I said I kind of feel the same..." He trailed off scratching his head awkwardly. I looked up to meet his brown eyes and we stopped walking. His dark hands touched mine but didn't hold them. "My heart would attack me..." I whisper then realize how stupid that sounded. "Is that bad?" He asked grinning slightly. "No, it just means I'm happy for once," I said smiling brightly. He smiled as well before racing home.

He kept passing me notes in school of random topics and even told me he loved me. But that all washed down the drain when someone mentioned to me that he was in a relationship. I hurried to school and couldn't resist passing him a note asking who he was in a relationship with. He said her name was Trisha, and he thought I knew. I told him I didn't know and quickly went back to my work.

He passed me a note that said, 'You're mad :(' I quickly wrote back saying that I wasn't mad, and then he said he felt like a jerk. I told him he wasn't, he couldn't be a jerk. And I couldn't be mad at him, I allowed myself to fall for him and that caused me to be broken in a way that couldn't be fixed. He told me he loved me, he even suggested we flip a coin heads he's mine tails I'm his. It was cheesy but cute. I never really liked my name, but the way he said it made me feel like I had the best name in the entire world. He broke my heart but I still have those feelings for him.

Now seeing him standing there next to Drake and Meena, it makes me ache inside. If he dies I will be crushed, life is so unfair. Meena says something into the microphone that I can't comprehend and then she leads us into the Justice Building where we're all separated.

My mother comes in and wraps me in her arms tight. I can't breath and don't really want to hug her, but since I'm going to die I hug her for her. "Be safe, be safe," She whispers in a panicked tone. Fearful of what may happen while she watches the games on TV I take her by the shoulders and glare at her. "Don't you dare abandon those kids," I say to her sternly. "Don't forget you've got three other children that need you to protect them, don't you dare forget," I say angrily remembering when dad died and she forgot us. She just looks to me shocked. I'm not one to speak my mind to her, I don't disrespect her ever. This must be surprising to her.

"If you just sit there and worry about me all day long then dammit, your children will slowly fade and die, they need their mother they need you, so if you love me then you'll take care of them for me, I've had to be their mother because you're too busy, but now that I'm gone and even if I don't come back you have to take care of them, do it!" I yell quickly. I don't have that much time with her so I have to get my message through. "You watch your language missy! And I loved your father very much that's why I was so torn over his death, I work so hard every day to provide for my children which I love," She's a Christian, she believes in god and whatnot. I did once, but he never did anything for me so I've given up on him. Mother doesn't like me using bad language, she's pretty much forced her religion on all of us, but since dads death she's let up some.

"I will be their mother, I will take care of them but you have to do something for me," I take in a sharp breath thinking of what she may ask. "You have to take care of yourself in those games don't just fool around try to win," She says squeezing my arm. I nod. "I will," A Peacekeeper opens the door and says times up.

"I love you!" Mom cries out. Despite our differences I love her too, she's my mother and suddenly I don't want her to leave. I need my mom. "Mom!" I yell running after her. "I love you too!" I scream as she's pulled away from me. I step back breathing sharply. The door opens again and someone else enters the room. It's Merlin and Zinnia. "Five minutes," The Peacekeeper at the door says rudely.

Merlin rushes into my arms and Zinnia hesitates before coming in for embrace. "I love you guys," I whisper. Merlin refuses to let go but Zinnia steps back with tears falling freely. "You're the best sister ever, I love you, be safe," She stares at me sullenly. I nod. Despite how much we fight, argue, and boss each other, we both know we'd take a bullet for each other. With our three year age difference we never really got along, but I've protected her and she's been kind to me sometimes.

The door opens and the Peacekeeper summons them out. Merlin won't let go. Zinnia runs out and into Zerek's arms but Merlin won't let go. "Come on kid," The Peacekeeper steps in. Merlin's vice grip refuses to loosen. "No! Katna! Please!" He starts balling his eyes out. He gets overly attached to me sometimes, it's really quite dramatic and makes me wanna cry. But he needs to let go or risk being injured by the Peacekeeper. I manage to loosen his grip around my hips and push him back. "I love you, be safe and be strong," I tell him with a strong confident smile. He nods with tears and turns away.

Just before the door closes Zinnia rushed in for one last hug before she's jerked away by the Peacekeeper. "Don't forget the song!" She screams. "Don't touch the pearl! Remember!" She yells and I nod. "I'll remember!" I say recalling the old song our aunt taught us once.

"Can I please have-" The door closes before I can hear what all Zinnia said. I slump down defeated by the Capitol and their rules. The door opens and Zinnia walks back inside, Meena walks in with her. "I talked the guard into letting her stay five more minutes," She explains to my confused look. Maybe underneath all her fake Capitol look she's a real person with a heart.

"Sing me the song," Zinnia whispers in a scared-to-death tone. I nod and quickly try to remember the lyrics.

"Uh," I try desperately. Finally the words flood my mind in an old memory.

"Down near the swamp

Where the alligators stomp,

There is a treasure buried deep below,

The pirates and captains sing of it so low, they tell the tale of old where the jewels are gold, " It sounds somewhat cheesy, but it's really a good song.

"Sing sing, sing a lullaby, tell me you'll find me don't let me touch the sky, the slithering snake, an old earth quake,

Sing the song of new and that's where I leave clues. " I don't like my singing voice, but it seems everyone compliments me on it when they're lucky enough to hear it.

"Come to my treasure, I don't need pleasure, just take me away from this musty old clay.

But don't touch the pearl, the wind and the rain, the storm will come and you'll go insane, so don't touch the pearl the wind and the rain. "

I remember when I used to sing this to my siblings every night, but one night my mother came home early and when she heard me singing it she ordered me never to sing it again. I didn't understand then why, it was just a harmless lullaby, but now as the words swarm in my head I realize it's a song about a pirate searching for treasure and when he finds it his greed leads him to take it all away for himself, but the guardian of the treasure cursed him turning him to a pearl, others searched desperately for the treasure but when they found it they'd always go for the most precious piece, the Pearl, but when they touched it a hurricane would come and they'd all go mentally insane, as the song goes the girl guarding the treasure meets someone who seeks to find gold jewels she warns him not to touch the pearl but he doesn't listen and falls insane along with the others, the girl longs for someone to break this curse but finally accepts that she will never be free. It's really quite sad.

"Sing sing, sing a lullaby, tell me you'll find me don't let me touch the sky, the slithering snake, an old earth quake,

Sing the song of new and that's where I leave a clue."

Meena stands transfixed on my song. She's really emotional it seems.

"I'm cursed here alone, no way to go home. It will just be a minute, a moment a scar, I can't but its just too far.

Now I'll stay here forever, leaving here never, see my treasure touch my soul, but nothing could ever, make me whole.

Sing sing, sing a lullaby, tell me you'll find me don't let me touch the sky, the slithering snake, an old earth quake, "

All she wants is to find true love, but the girl in the song never finds it. Sadly.

"Sing the song of new and that's where I'll love you, it's where, I love you. " Zinnia curls up in my lap to cherish the last couple minutes with me in silence. She wipes at her tears but they won't go away. The Peacekeeper ushers her out and I'm left alone once again until Sarry, the Trade Center woman enters the room. I'm not sure at all why she'd be coming here.

"We elected you to go into the games because you would have the best chance out of all the children in District 8," It takes me a moment to understand what she just said. The trade people voted for me to enter the Hunger Games.

"You are an amazing hunter, you always bring me the best of the best, I know you can win," She says staring me down with a confident look in her eye that makes me feel small and insignificant. She turns on her heel and walks out before I can say anything.

After a couple minutes where I reflect on my life so far and wonder what my future holds, Meena comes back and escorts me out of the room.

She leads me to a train, something I've always seen the tributes ride but have never ridden one before. It's very luxurious, there are seats with velvet coverings and nice carpets line the floors. The trains not moving but the view from the windows looks nice. I'd enjoy this if it wasn't for the fact that I'm being shipped off to die for the entertainment of the world.

Meena leads me to a room and tells me I get it all to myself. I walk in and look around as she shuts the door behind me. The room is as big as my house, and I get it all to myself? The carpet is fancy and there's a bed folded into the wall. There's a table and two chairs on one side with a vase of white roses in the center. I spot something I've never seen before in my life. My mother told me the Capitol people had something called a shower, she explained its purpose and expressed her desire to have one. But we can never afford running water. The only time we could clean and 'bathe' ourselves was if we went to the stream on the outskirts of the district. But that was fifteen miles from where we live, so it wasn't often we were clean.

I suddenly want to take a shower, to wash my hair and body, I take a look at my arms. I'm filthy. There's at least three layers of dirt covering my skin. I decide I'll hop in the shower.

After an amazing experience I didn't want to leave, I find a closet and search through its contents for something to wear. I find a pair of pants and t-shirt that remind me of my own clothes back home and put them on. I retrieve my golden locket from the bathroom floor where I'd left it and put it around my neck. I don't want to leave my dress on the floor, messing this clean compartment so I take it and hang it up in the closet. Before I do anything else I brush my long red-ish hair. It can't really qualify as red hair, it's more brown but it's got a deep red tint. Almost a mahogany color.

I want to explore more of this richly decorated train so I leave my room and wander the halls. Meena had mentioned earlier that it would take almost a day to get to the Capitol, giving me plenty of time to explore this train.

As I walk the halls admiring some paintings on the wall I hear someone walking just around the corner. My heart pounds. What if I'm not supposed to be here?

The persons shadow creeps closer. I freeze. But as he comes around the corner I realize it's Kenniathan. We stare at each other a moment, not uttering a word. "I had no idea we'd be thrown in this together," He says at last. I try to speak but when I move my mouth nothing comes out. He huffs air out of his nose and smiles slightly, touching my shoulder gently. "It's ok, I know what you're thinking, and I'm sorry, I honestly thought you knew," My mind flashes back to when he passed me a note in class asking why I was so sad, I asked why he thought I was sad and he came back with, 'You never smile anymore' I finally admitted that I was sad, and he was right. He then passed me a note asking why. I simply told him I was in love and it hurt sometimes.

He asked me to explain. I told him I couldn't and he told me to try as best I can. He knew I loved him so I said it just hurt me a little when he told me he had a girlfriend, he sent back a note apologizing and saying that it's complicated, he said she had some sort of mental illness and he was afraid of what might happen to her if he broke her heart. We kind of stopped talking after that. He didn't pass anymore notes in class, and after school he'd walk home with Tianna, he wouldn't look at me. If he did and I waved he'd kind of half wave and smile but turn away. I felt like he was pushing me away from him, I felt grateful because I kept telling myself not to fall for him. But no matter how hard I try, his smile, his eyes, his voice, it all makes me fall deeper in love with him. Which I shouldn't be. I can't help what my heart feels, no matter what my brain is telling me I should do.

"Yeah, um, it's fine," I stumble out. I'm reminded of all those times I told him he was cute and that I loved him, and what hurts more is all the times he told me he loved me. One time he asked when I started liking him, I thought about it and told him I started falling for him when he and I sang Its A Small World After All, sometime after we first met. We'd seen each other at the Trade Center a week before we officially met and exchanged names and became friends, when we remembered seeing each other there he started up singing the song and I joined in. Anyway, I asked him the same question, when did he start falling for me, he said it was the moment he first heard my great laugh when I laughed at his stupid whatever it was he was doing.

The memory makes me smile and giggle to myself. Then I realize he's still standing in front of me. "What's so funny?" He asks with a grin. "Nothing," A frown quickly crosses my face and I turn away stalking out the hall and back to my room.

I can't believe him. Flirting with me when he had a girlfriend. Although, I don't know when exactly he and her got together, he could've been single when he was flirting with me. But that doesn't make sense, why would he flirt with me like that and then get someone else as a girlfriend? Either scenarios it hurts me, and I don't like it. I have to stop liking him so much.

"Dinner time!" Meena calls out as she treads down the hall. I get off my bed reluctantly and follow our escort down to the dining car. There's a man sitting at the table when we get there, he's a stranger to me, also at the table is Drake, every time I look at him I'm reminded we'll have to kill each other. Although there's a good chance one or both of us will be killed by another tribute before ever having to face each other, but still, the thought reeks my mind.

I take a seat next to my best friend, sitting across from me is Tianna, and next to her Kenniathan, at the end is the stranger and next to Drake is Meena. I begin to recognize the man at the end, I think he's the District 8 mentor, Woof. I decide that's who he is and then turn to my empty plate.

Some people enter the room carrying tray after tray of delicious looking food. I stare as they place it all in front of us. "And we can have as much as we want?" I ask Meena, then realize that was probably a dumb question. She laughs and says, "Indeed, you may have your fill," Drake and I exchange excited glances and then politely take some food. I'm smart enough to know that if I wolf it all down like the starving child I am I'll throw it up later. So I slowly eat, and I know not to eat too much or I'll throw that up later as well.

"Mm, Kat, you gotta try this," Drake hands me a small piece of bread stuffed with grapes and cheese and more things I can't name. I take a bite. It melts in my mouth, the warmness of the bread combined with the juiciness of the grapes and the flavor of the cheese makes it wonderful.

"Mmm," I mumble in pure pleasure. "Good eh?" Drake says smiling at my happiness. "Try this," I say giving him a spoonful of cranberry sauce. He lights up at the taste, Drake has always been the one to throw out ideas about what food would taste good with other food. He loves cooking and would do it if he could, but our poor living conditions and the lack of food we're allowed forbids him from being able to enjoy making good food. "Are you sure there isn't something between you two?" Meena just has to ask. "Meena, Drake is like a brother to me, we've grown up together, I wouldn't want to date my brother would I?" I talk to her like she's five. She acts like she's five how else can I talk to her? At my last sentence I couldn't help but glance at Kenniathan, who was already looking my way.

"So, you're all my ducky's this year," Woof speaks up from his place at the table. "Got any advice?" Kenniathan asks curiously. "Yes, the most important thing-" Woof adjusts his sitting position before going on. "Don't die," Kenniathan and I laugh but no one else seems to find it funny. Woof just grins.

"Looks like we got a couple o' comedians," He notes looking to me then Kenniathan. Meena clears her throat and mumbles something about him being senile before leaving. "You look like a good lot, I think you'll do fine," Woof says with a grin. "Except, her," He points to me. My heart skips a beat. "She'll win," He says. "Th-thank you," I say surprised.

"Alright, I'm taking a bath," I'm starting to think Meena might be right about him being senile. He stands and leaves, I notice he hasn't touched his food. Drake and I look to each other and shrug before going back to eating our food.

I think I ate more than I should've. I didn't eat too much, but just enough to feel fat. Which is probably good, I need to gain some weight, I've always been a skinny person. I walk to my room with Drake by my side. "If you need anything-" He taps his door which is only a few feet from my own. "I'll be here," He whispers. I nod thankfully. He pulls me in for a hug before entering his room.

As I enter my temporary room I shut the door and flop down on the bed. I don't bother changing my clothes I just sleep in what I've got on. I lay there for awhile trying to fall asleep.

I keep thinking of Kenny, and how much I've fallen for him, and how much it hurts to know he's got someone special, and what if I have to go up against him in the arena? Would I be able to kill him? Or would he kill me first? He's hurt me enough, killing me would be merciful. What a horrible thought.

My eyes start to close and I slowly drift to sleep, the light from the window fading in my mind.

**p.s. My other story, A Guide To Shadow Bending, I encourage you all to read that if you haven't already, it helps you learn more about the Shadow Bender Katna is, I love this idea so much! Hehe I'm having too much fun!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My eyes flutter open. I could've swore I heard someone whisper my name. I shift in bed and look around the room. No ones there. My eyes close again and this time there's someone calling my name, I'm sure.

I jump out of bed and stare at-Meena. What does she want?

"We're here," She whispers with innocence. I look out the window, it's dark. "It's 2am," Meena says satisfying my curiosity. I nod understandingly and follow her out and down the hall. We reach a door and she just opens it, not bothering to knock. Out comes Tianna and we move on down the car. We skip Drake's door. I wonder why.

We reach another door that she enters again without knocking. She takes a little longer this time to come out. I want to peek around the corner but I don't want to intrude on this persons privacy. Meena steps out followed by a shirtless Kenniathan. I take in a sharp breath at his bare chest. His olive skin is almost unseen in the surrounding darkness, he looks-stop it, I'm not supposed to like him like that.

He takes a black t-shirt and puts it on, not noticing my stare. We all fall into step behind Meena as she leads us through the train. Once outside I turn around and there, all over, lights flood the valley below, we're on a mountain next to a tall building. The view is spectacular. I turn to point something out to Drake but he's not beside me. Instead my eyes meet Kenniathan's as he watches me.

"What?" I say my smile fading. "The look on your face when you saw the city," He whispers sleepily. "It was priceless," He goes on further. I turn back to gazing at the lights, ignoring the butterflies that fill my stomach. It does that every time he talks and it's stupid, I can't afford to feel this way.

"Inside inside! Get your sleep children!" Meena squeals worriedly. But where is Drake? His absence worries me. I instinctively look back as footsteps rush at me.

"Where've you been!" I call out to Drake as he slows to my pace. "I couldn't sleep so I wandered around the train cars. I was looking out the train window when Woof found me and told me we're here, so I was just back there talking to him," I nod feeling satisfied with his explanation.

We make our way up the hillside to a large mansion. It's quite possibly the biggest building I've ever seen. I stare in awe for a few moments before actually going inside. The inside is even more grand than the outside. It's fully furnished and the decorations are amazing. I can't help but stare at the luxuries I've never been allowed.

"Look," Drake whispers in my ear and I turn to where he's pointing. An Earth Bender stands in the corner of the house bending a large rock into something I'm not sure what exactly. Zerek is an Earth Bender. But he never uses his bending, at least I've never seen him use it, Zinnia is a Water Bender and Merlin is still too young to know what kind of bender he is or if he even is one at all.

I'm led to a room where I'm left alone. It's a beautiful room, the floor is hard wood but has a red carpet in the middle. The bed is huge and looks comfy. One wall is all window, the whole wall, just a window. I decide the first thing I'll do is look outside.

The city lights across the landscape are beautiful, they're like a thousand fireflies dotting the hills and valleys. It reminds me of a time when Drake and I snuck out of our houses late at night, I left because my mother was fighting with my older brother and I couldn't handle it, I don't know why he left, but we met up out in the woods and just walked and talked until we stumbled upon a gorgeous pond with lily pads and frogs, about a million fireflies floated about the place making it almost seem magical, the weeping willow trees bent over the edges of the water giving the place a fairy tale appearance. It was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen, it still is. In that moment I felt free, I felt safe and warm. And the best part was that I got to share it with Drake, I don't know how I'm going to survive the Hunger Games.

I can't kill people. Much less kids my age younger and older. I won't be able to do it. I'll die, I won't break the tradition of surviving the first 24 hours I'll die. My heart pounds in my ear. What am I going to do? Is my life going to end out there in that arena? Am I going to die without ever finding answers to questions I've had forever?

What Woof said at the dinner table last night, 'Except her, she'll win,' will I really? And how does he know? And what Sarry said back at the Justice Building, 'You are an amazing hunter, you always bring me the best of the best, I know you can win,' All I know is that I can't let them down, I have to at least try to win for Merlin, for Zinnia, for Woof. And what about Drake and Kenniathan? Can I kill them? Maybe I won't have to but I can't let them die, what is gonna happen in that arena? Who will win who will die? And Tianna, I don't think I'd be able to kill her if it came down to it. She's too nice, I can't make friends here, I'll just get attached and it will be that much harder to let go if and when they're killed during the games.

Taking a deep breath I walk to a closet. Inside I find some nightclothes and quickly dress before climbing into bed. The bed is soft and comfortable. I'd like to cherish what little time of pleasure I get before being sent to my doom, my eyes soon close and I drift to sleep.

My heart pounds in my ear and my breathing rapidly increases. When I sit up however, I realize I'm in that big comfy bed, not in an arena full of angry mobs trying to punish me for coming here. My breathing slows and the room stops spinning. I stand up trying to forget my dream and make my way to the shower. There's a knock at my door, I grab a robe and pull it on as I walk over.

Opening it cautiously I find a stranger about two years older than me standing, staring. "Yes?" I ask bewildered. He smirks and leans on the door frame. "Hey, I was just exploring the mansion," He says in a slithery easy-going tone. He's very tan and has dark hair and bright blue eyes that seem to pierce my very soul.

"Oh, well have fun, I'm busy at the moment," I tell him as politely as I can. I move to close the door but he steps in blocking it. "I know," He says eyeing my robe. I've decided he's rude and I don't want to know who he is or what he's really doing. "So you know you have to leave now, goodbye," I try pressing the door closed but he jumps inside my room just before it slams shut. "Excuse me!" I say a little loudly.

"Excuse me," He says with a half smile and steps closer staring into my eyes. "You have the prettiest green eyes ever," I have no idea who this guy is or what he thinks he's doing, but I want him to leave. "Get out of my room!" I don't care how rude I sound I don't like this guy. "Come on, this place is big enough for two," He skips over to my bed and jumps on it.

My anger is slowly rising, this is insane. I glare at him, my hands on my hips. "What's your name sweets?" He asks carelessly. "Katna, now will you leave?" I ask growing impatient. "Kitty Kat eh?" He rolls his tongue making a cat purring sound. I hate this guy. "Just who do you think you are?" I ask crossing my arms over my chest.

"I am Castro Vinnelio, from District 4," He announces grandly. He's so full of himself. "And you're a tribute?" I ask curiously although I'm supposed to want him to leave not start a conversation. "Yes ma'am," He answers gladly. "Why do you seem so happy to be here? You're just going in to die," I remind him. He then quickly jumps off the bed and rushes over standing uncomfortably close. "It's an honor to be chosen for the Hunger Games, and even more so to be chosen for a Quarter Quell," District 4, he's a career tribute. Now I know, the rich districts train there whole lives for the games, they enjoy it. Disgusting. "Oh, you're a career,"

"Sure am, I could show you some moves if you like," His hands wrap around my waist and he brings himself closer pressing his chest against mine and looking deep into my eyes. I try pulling back but he holds me tight. "Let me go!" I yell in his face. "Come on Kitty Kat," he says in a slithering tone. I feel his hot breath against my neck and push harder to get away.

"Let her go!" I hear the unmistakable voice of Drake. Castro lets go as he's pulled away by Drake. I stand and stare shaking fearfully. "Get out now!" Drake yells pointing at the door. Castro grins devilishly and holds up his hands in surrender. "Ok, see ya later Kitty Kat," He winks at me and then runs out.

"Thanks," I say to Drake after a moment of silence. "You ok?" My best friend asks again sounding more angry than concerned. "I'm fine, he's a jerk," I say bluntly. "I'll give him what for in the arena," Drake pounds his fist on his other hand as I'm reminded of the horror to come, I slump to my bed soon followed by Drake. "He's a career, he's trained for this, we haven't," I tell him defeated. "We've got practice," I look to Drake who's smiling sheepishly. "Killing innocent people?" I demand suspiciously. "No, but we've hunted animals, in the arena it's no different, just hunting." He says firmly. "Yeah but hunting people," I say with a gasp. "Killing people, human beings," He sighs and his shoulders slump. "We'll just have to pretend they're animals," He tells me quietly.

Someone taps the door before I can say anything else. "Yoohoo!" Meena calls in her perky tone. "Aw, you two are so cute," She whispers and I roll my eyes. "What is it?" I ask. It was probably a little rude, but she seems so stupid. An awful thing to say about her, but still. "You're not supposed to be visiting the other tributes, sorry, also breakfast is soon you may want to dress-" She eyes my bath robe. I nod understandingly and Drake leaves.

This time I lock the door just because and take my shower quickly.

Breakfast looks amazing, there are delicious looking breads with white stuff on them. Everything smells wonderful. I recognize some strawberries and remember the berries I brought home for my siblings yesterday. I miss them and wonder what they're doing now.

No time to wonder, Meena claps her hands together for our attention and we all look up.

"Hurry with breakfast we have places to be!" She squeaks. We all nod and turn to our food. "Katna!" Drake's voice has never sounded so excited before. "What?" I ask, maybe sounding a little concerned for what he has to say. "I've heard of this!" He takes a cup. "This stuff, it's called hot chocolate, I've never had any before but my grandpas old cooking books had a picture of some, wanna try it with me?" He sounds just like a little kid. I smile glad to see him enjoying himself for once even if it's only because we've been sent to die. Why is it that I always remember that when I think of something nice? Maybe because the Capitol is cruel and needs to be shut down.

"Yes! Of course!" I take my own cup in my hands and feel the warmth of the drink. We watch each other as we take our first sip. It's amazing, I've never tasted anything quite like it. We take another sip, and another until our cups are empty.

After breakfast is over, Meena comes back and rushes us out to the Remake Center. The boys are led away to a room while Tianna and I are taken to another. Meena leaves us to stare at the people running about. They all have crazy hairdos of bright colors and their makeup looks, well, ridiculous! A girl walks by with too much blue and black makeup on her eyes, her lips are black and her hair is a sea-green and bluey-purple. Tianna and I simultaneously look at each other and laugh. The eye makeup makes her look like she got punched in both eyes.

Meena comes back followed by six people with wild hair. "Girls, say hello to your prep team!" Meena announces with a perky smile. I nod and smile. Tianna doesn't know what to do so she copies me. I'm not sure how old she is, I think she's thirteen, but I'm not quite sure on that. She could be fourteen. Three of the six people drag Tianna away happily while I'm left with the other three. A man and two women.

Meena leaves and I'm led to another room. Only one of my prep team people enters the steel room with me. She hands me a small gown and I put it on. It's short and lightweight. She pats her hand on the table and tells me to lay on it. I obey and she gets out her tools.

"I'm Senica, what's your name?" She asks without looking at me. "Katna," I answer suspiciously eyeing her tools. She gets out some gooey stuff and layers it across my legs. "Oh, that's a beautiful name," Her makeup is gold and silver, her hair is a light puffy pink and her skin is tinted the same. "This might hurt a little," She says sheepishly. "Ok," I grip the sides of the table ready for anything. "And your eyes might water," She tells me. I nod. She sucks in a deep breath.

The gooey stuff is ripped off my legs and pulls the hair away with it. I grit my teeth and clench the table harder as my eyes do indeed water a little. Senica apologizes profusely before moving on to the next leg.

The last few hairs are plucked out by the rest of my prep team with tweezers. I'm led away by Vynn, the man in my prep team, Senica and Tylaria follow close behind. He leads me to a tub of water and then leaves. Tylaria and Senica take off my dress and ask me to step in the soapy water. Then they scrub me clean. All that dirt that's been embedded in my skin is scrubbed off till I'm red from all the rubbing.

Tylaria takes my gold locket in her hand and looks it over several times. "It's beautiful, I suppose I can leave it on," She says letting it drop back to its hanging position around my neck.

Vynn comes in with a towel and dries me off. The girls give me another of those short white dress things and then take me away to a chair where they scrub my nails. Then they take a colorful stick thing and scratch at my nails. It sends shivers up my spine every once in awhile, the stick files my nails down till my team says they're perfect. Then they paint them with a clear coated substance. My team chatters to themselves while working on me. They talk about what color to do them and what designs they should be.

They finally settle on a deep purple color suggested by Vynn. "You're a Shadow Bender right?" Senica asks curiously. "Yes," I answer quietly and shyly. She nods. "Then you like dark colors," She announces feeling smart and educated. "I guess," I say with a shrug. She goes back to painting my nails and talking with Tylaria. After my fingernails are done they move on to my toes.

I take a look at my nails. I've never had them painted before. They look, pretty. Vynn put on a gold swirl design across them. It looks good. I gasp as I notice the design on my ring finger forms the shape of a bird spreading its wings. It's tiny yes but visible.

"How did you do this?" I ask in awe. Vynn looks up and eyes the tiny bird sketched into my nail design. "I'm an artist, it was quite easy for me," He answers with a simple smile. "I'm an artist too," I say. "How did you do it this small and almost unseen?" When I was very young I started drawing with whatever I could find on whatever I could. Over the years my art work had gotten considerably better. Vynn seemed to perk up at my being an artist as well. He stopped what he was doing and took my hand looking at the bird.

"Well, if you use the right size brush you can make perfect lines and have them be very small, so, first you would do the bird, think up a picture in your head and then let it fall to your fingers and out the brush.

After the bird, you would take a peek at the other nails, their swift swirl designs, ok, so then just add those around the bird and it seems like all it is is a bunch of swirls.

But look close and you'll find the birdie," He tells me excitedly. I nod and stare at the bird again. Vynn goes back to my toes.

My prep team all scurry away and return with a man who looks normal compared to everyone else around here. Vynn has blue spikey hair and tinted green skin, he also has golden tattoos across his arms. Tylaria has purple hair and purple tattoos across her eyes. Her skin is tinted purple as well and she has a black tattoo across her neck and chest.

This new guy they've led in has black hair and a normal colored skin. He has brown eyes and no tattoos around them. He wears a simple black t-shirt and jeans. He looks like someone from a richer district, but he's too old to be a tribute. So what is he?

"This is your head stylist, Mako," Senica answers that question. I nod and they all leave. Mako walks around me in a complete circle. "You certainly are a pretty girl all on your own, there's not much I can do to make you prettier," He says. I think that was a compliment. I smile, "Thanks," I say simply but kindly. He smiles at me. "You hungry for lunch?" He asks. I nod vigorously. It's been hours since I last ate.

Mako hands me some clothes and leaves me alone to change. I jump off the chair and take a look at what he gave me to wear. It's a powdery blue dress with buttons up the front and barely visible are white pin stripes going up and down. I put it on and look at myself in the mirror. They've put makeup on me, not a lot, but some. My eyelashes are longer and blacker, on my eyelids are beautiful brown colors and my lips are shiny. My nails are painted and I'm wearing a new dress and shoes. I feel so different. Everything is different, this isn't me, I don't wear dresses and makeup and all this stuff. I take the locket it my hand and open it.

The pictures, I wonder who they could be. The man looks happy in the photo, his smile, it's like none I've ever seen. I snap it closed and walk out of the room without another thought.

Mako is waiting just outside. He smiles at me and leads me to a room where a tables been set. Tianna sits with a man I assume is her stylist. We take a seat and Mako dishes out some food for me and we begin eating.

"So, should we discuss what you girls should wear to the Opening Ceremony?" Mako asks looking to both me and Tianna. I nod slowly. Tianna brightens. She's wearing a soft yellow dress with a ribbon around the waist that comes to a bow at the back. In her hair is also a little yellow bow. I've seen that bow before, but dirtier. I just can't remember where-

"Ok, usually the District 8 tributes are decked out in multiple patterns and neon colors to represent the different fabrics in that district.

But lets not have all those bright colors and random patches. Lets do something different, something that will blow their minds," Tianna's stylist speaks up. A grin spreads across Mako's face and he shakes his finger ideally. "You may have something there Dane," He says and gets a look of 'thinking hard'

I continue eating my spaghetti. It's delicious. "Maybe they could wear something of their own design, after all they do create all the clothes we Capitol people wear," Dane puts his hands to his jacket with an excited expression. His hair is a dark green almost black, and his eye color matches. The rest of him is pretty normal though. "Hmm, maybe, what do you girls think?" Mako asks looking directly at me. "That's a great idea!" Tianna speaks up. That's the first time I've heard her talk since being here. "My mother draws up designs for clothing and then sends them to the factory where they're made, I used to help her sometimes," She says still smiling. Mako grins and looks to Dane who nods in approval. "And what about you?" Mako turns to me. "What do you do back home?" He asks. My mind immediately goes to hunting in the woods but that's illegal and I can't let them know I've been breaking the Capitol law. "Um, I work with my best friend in the Trade Center," I settle for that. It's the closest to the truth without actually crossing the line. Or in this case, an electric fence.

"Oh, does your mother design clothes?" Mako asks sounding disappointed. "She used to, but after my dad died-" I trail off remembering his death. "I'm sorry," I turn to Mako. He looks like he could cry. "It's ok, after my dad died she kind of stopped doing it, but she needed the money so she went to work for a woman who manufactured the cloth that was sent to the factory to be made into clothing for the Capitol," I tell him with a sigh at the memory of how mother shut down after dads death. Mako places a hand to my shoulder. "Alright well, we should get busy designing!" Dane announces with pride. I smile and stand. We walk out and to another room where both our prep teams wait. "Hello," One of Tianna's team members smiles at her and she smiles back. Tylaria walks over to me and looks at my dress. "Looks great!" She announces and turns to Senica who agrees.

Mako gets out some paper and pencils. He sets them on a table and takes a seat. Dane does the same so Tianna and I follow their lead. "Alright, go for it!" Mako gives us the paper and a pencil and Tianna immediately begins drawing.

"What's their Opening Ceremony outfits?" I hear Vynn ask Mako, who's stepped away from the table. "They're designing their own," Mako answers. Vynn steps forward and hovers over my shoulder. I haven't drawn anything yet. I don't know what I'd wear.

Tianna holds up a picture and Dane laughs heartily. She turns it so we can see. It's a really poofy dress with big puffy sleeves and a giant hat adorned with flowers and a birds feathers. "No joke! My mother made this for a Capitol lady!" She says laughing. I turn to my blank page. I have no idea what I'm doing. But I begin drawing anyway.

After several pictures drawn by Tianna in mock of the Capitol ladies she finally starts seriously concentrating on her dress. I've failed on mine so many times. I'm not sure how many pages I've used, but they sit in a messy stack in front of me. "Now remember you're representing your district, make it look like it," Dane says to Tianna. She nods and continues drawing. I sigh and look at my most recent drawing.

Mako comes and looks. He doesn't speak at first. "I don't know what I'm doing, I can't design clothes, it's really not my thing," Mako chuckles and takes the picture from my hand. I watch him as he picks up another of my pictures, then another till he's looking at all of them.

"I see a pattern here," He announces after awhile. "You like bows in your hair, and kind of the old fashioned messy hairdo that still looks beautiful," He says and I nod sheepishly. "That's ok, it looks great." He says with a smile. I warm up to the idea and begin thinking.

"Maybe we could mix and match from all these drawings," Mako says setting down the pictures and looking directly into my eyes. "Yeah?" I say looking to him with curious eyes. "Look," He sits next to me and shows me one of my drawings.

"Take this," He points to the top half of a dress I attempted to draw. It's got stringy straps and ties up the front in a crisscross strings all the way up till it ties off. "And put it with this-" He takes another drawing of mine and shows me the skirt half. It goes down long and flowing till it's just ten inches from the floor. He takes a blank page and draws the two pieces together. The dress has vine designs on it and looks beautiful. He draws a girl wearing the dress. I have to say he's a great artist. "And your hair-" He does the hair wavy and let down, parts of it near the ear is pulled back to a bow and the bangs are just left down above the eyes, just brushing the eyebrows. Then he starts drawing the face, she's smiling pretty then as he draws more I realize it's me he's drawing. "There you are," He says smiling. "You will look fabulous." He says with a chuckle. I nod eyeing the outfit with cheerful eyes. I kind of like the idea and can't wait to try it on.

Tianna and Dane walk out of the room giggling without showing us their ideas. Mako laughs and shakes his head. "They want theirs as a surprise," He says with a grin. I nod and follow him out. We walk to a closet and he pulls the door open. Inside are thousands of fabrics and cloths, the closet is huge. Mako pulls out a tan-peachy colored fabric that's got a cream color to it. He also pulls out a fabric that has the vine designs on it like the picture. I follow him to a table but then he tells Tylaria to take me away. She takes me back to one of the rooms, along with the picture of my dress for the Chariot Ride. I'm instructed to sit in a chair and my team works on doing my hair.

A few hours later Mako comes in with my dress. It looks beautiful, it's possibly the prettiest dress I've ever seen. I quickly change, Mako's added gloves to the outfit, they're not regular gloves though, they have holes so my fingers stick out and they reach all the way up my arm and stop just above my elbow. Mako walks all the way around me, taking it all in. He lifts my chin so I look at him. "Don't forget to smile pretty, we want them all to love you, that's how you get sponsors," He tells me. I respond with the brightest smile I can muster. He laughs and touches my nose gently. "Beautiful," He whispers and turns around to pick up my bow.

He gently pulls some of my hair back and clips the hair piece in the back. "There, we're ready," He says. "Oh!" He turns to Vynn who hands him a box. Mako opens the box revealing a pair of heels that match my dress in color and design. "I can't walk in those," I say bluntly. Mako and Vynn both laugh and then Mako takes the shoes out.

He lifts me by the waist and sets me on the table. "What-" I barely have time to say that before he slips the shoes on gently. "Here," Mako holds out his hand, "Trust me, I'll help you," He says with a warm smile. I nod slowly and place my small hand in his. He pulls me down and helps me walk through the room.

We walk around and around, then he leads me out and we walk around the main room of the Remake Center. I finally get the hang of it and we go out to find Tianna and Dane and her team. A door swings open and out steps Tianna in a bright pink dress that drags on the floor, she has on a tiara and a pearl necklace. She smiles and walks out followed by Dane and her team. I start to think her body is older than her mind. Mako leads us all out to a waiting chariot. I can hear the crowds cheering out in the stadium. "Alright, they should be at District 3 right now," Dane says looking around at all the chariots remaining with us. I turn around in a wide circle to view all the other tributes. I spot Castro and quickly turn back. Drake walks over just as I do. I smile at him and he smiles back.

He's dressed in black pants and a black shirt with the picture of a Phoenix on it. His hair is spiked up in the front and he looks upset. "What's wrong?" I ask worriedly. "Nothing, I just don't like this whole showing off for the Capitol people." He says solemnly. My first thought is to say 'then you shouldn't have volunteered for this' but that wouldn't do any good. "Yeah, but lets let them have their fun, it won't be long before we're-" I can't finish the sentence but he knows what I mean. He sighs and nods. I look behind him and see Kenniathan just walk up followed by his stylist a woman with pure white hair and eyes! They're really creepy, why she would decide to do that to her eyes is beyond me. But Kenniathan, he wears a black-ish grey shirt with a black jacket. It's plain. I'm assuming they designed their own clothes as well, and Kenny of course would choose plain clothes. Maybe that's what I should've done. He looks at me and I impulsively turn away. I busy myself with petting the horse attached to our chariot.

But he walks over and pets it with me. "You look nice, did they let you design your own clothes too?" He asks. I nod not bothering to smile. I wish so badly that he didn't have to be here to die with me. I'm so in love with him and everything about him. But there's nothing I can do. He has someone, back home. I've never met her, or even seen her. But I know she exists.

"Nice horse huh?" He says fishing for conversation. I nod silently. I don't feel like talking. I see him move from the corner of my eye. I wonder what he's looking at so I turn in his direction. The District 7 chariot is over there. I follow his gaze to see a boy from over there staring this way. He's staring at me. I turn away. Kenny is still watching the guy. Someone yells and their chariot leaves. I turn to look, he's still watching me, he smiles before their chariot goes around the corner and I can't see him anymore.

I shove him to the corner of my mind and turn back to Mako. He's ushering everyone into the chariots. Drake and I are in the first one with Kenniathan and Tianna in the next one. "Now, smile big and wave, got it?" Mako whispers before we take off. I nod as we head out. Mako smiles at us as we leave. The people in the stadium begin to cheer as we enter. "Time to smile!" Drake says sarcastically in my ear. I giggle and we both wave to the crowd as Mako instructed. The crowd is going wild, they scream and some stand and clap and yell. The chariot races on through the parade, I glance back to see Kenniathan waving without a smile. When he sees me watching him he winks and then smiles. I turn back. I shouldn't have looked. My smile returns as we continue on toward the Presidents mansion for his speech. I see my face flash across the jumbo-tron a few times along with Drake here beside me.

Pretty soon the parade of chariots turns back to the Training Center.

Once inside we all ride an elevator, something I've never done, to the eighth floor where the District 8 team will be staying. Meena walks in and cheers at how good we were in the Opening Ceremonies. "You were just perfect I loved it! I've been talking to everyone about you, but getting sponsors is not my job, it's Woof's," She says rolling her eyes. I'm escorted to my quarters. The room is even larger than the last one I stayed in, the themes are pink and brown, with hints of green here and there. The floor again is hard wood with a single large carpet across the middle flooring. There's a bathroom to one corner and a large closet built into one wall. There's a small table next to the bed with a menu on it. The food on the menu looks wonderful. I wander to the dresser and find it full of hair accessories and makeup. I close the drawer and look to the closet. It has a keyboard selection of clothes to choose from. I tap a picture of a plain t-shirt, the screen asks what color. This is really fantastic, too bad Zinnia can't be here to see all the things they have here. Suddenly I find myself missing them more than ever. It's not fair, I hate the games and the Capitol. They can all burn and die for all I care.

I quickly shower and then am called to dinner. At the table the whole team sits waiting, Meena, Mako, Woof, the other stylists, and my fellow District 8 tributes. I take the only seat available. The one next to Kenniathan. I note the seating arrangement, Woof is at the head and the stylists are all sitting together at his left, Drake sits beside Woof and Meena sits beside him, next to her is Tianna then Kenny then me. I can probably guess Meena didn't want me sitting by Drake, although her reason why is unknown. I sigh as servers with white tunics enter with plates of food. They have a roast and some soup, it all looks good. I eat in silence. I wouldn't know what to talk about, especially if that means talking to Kenniathan. He's my enemy, just remember that, we're going against each other in the arena. The arena, that reminds me of when the President announced that there is to be a big surprise for the tributes inside the arena. What could that be? My head fills with possible ideas as I eat my food. It could be any number of things. "Try this," I'm pulled out of my musings by Kenniathan, he holds a glass of some drink, it's clear like water but it has a sparkle to it. I stare at the glass being handed to me before I finally click and realize I need to actually take it with my own hands. I taste it as Kenny watches hopefully. It has a tingle to it, a shock, it doesn't have too much flavor but the ting really makes you want more. "Mmm," I say giving it back. "That's your glass," Kenny says pointing to his own cup half empty. "Oh," I drink more of the juice before finishing my food.

Moments later the servers return and take up our plates. Then a girl comes out and sets down a cake with flower designs on it. The girl bows slightly before walking away. As she walks past a candle it blows out. Meena cuts the cake and gives us all a piece before again reminding us of how good we did for Opening Ceremonies. Honestly I don't know what there is to be so good at, you just dress fancy, smile, and wave. Nothing much. "It's a little dark in here," Drake flicks his finger tossing a ShadowFlame at the candle and it lights instantly. "Oh!" Meena stares in awe. ShadowFlames are much brighter than regular flames. Sure they're black in appearance but they glow white. It sounds bazaar but that's just how it is. "I didn't know you were a Shadow Bender," Kenniathan says curiously. "Yeah, I am," Drake answers rather rudely. "Cool," Kenny doesn't let it get to him though. He shrugs it off and eats his cake.

Afterwards we all go sit on the couch and watch a replay of the Opening Ceremonies. "Are you two holding hands?" Meena demands pausing the tape. I look to the screen harder. Drake and I hadn't been holding hands, I don't know why-oh, at this angle it looks like we're holding hands, his right hand is set on the edge of the carriage rim as is my left hand. Seeing it like that looks like we're holding each others hand but we're not. "No," I say. "We're just putting our hand on the carriage rim," I explain, speaking again like she's stupid. I've got to stop doing that.

"Mmhmm," She plays the tape and seemingly forgets the incident. But I know she hasn't.

With dinner over, it's now time for bed. We all walk to our rooms together, since they're right next to each other anyway. I stop at my door however, not opening it. I don't really want to sleep bow, I walk a ways down the hall. At the end is a large window, or at least it seems to be a window, it's actually a touch screen map of the Training Center. I tap here and there looking at the entire place. I walk to the elevator alone and press the button for the roof.

Once there I wander to the edge. I recall Woof mentioning something about the whole place being electrified in case someone wanted to escape. I look out over the city. Tall buildings are all around, looking down I see people wandering the streets, their colorful hair looks ridiculous from up here, they all look like walking candy! I can't help but laugh at them. "Something funny?" I jump at the voice. My heart races and leaps around in my chest. I so was not expecting anyone else to be up here.

"I-I was just looking, I'll go to bed I promise," I tell whoever it is. He chuckles and steps into the light. I recognize his face but can't place where I've seen him. "It's ok, I won't tell," He walks to the rail next to me. "They look like walking candy," He notes. I giggle, he has no idea I was thinking the same thing not two minutes ago. "What?" He has an accent, just like a kid I used to go to school with. The kid was from Ireland, his ship wrecked on one of the shores of Panem and the Capitol sent him to my district. But this boy couldn't be the same one, the one I knew was killed by Peacekeepers because he was caught trying to escape the District Limits.

"Nothing, I was just thinking the same thing," I explain and he lights up. Maybe I shouldn't have chosen to wear the short sleeves shirt, a breeze blows and I shiver. "You cold?" The stranger asks. "I'm fine," I lie. Another wind blows and I shake uncontrollably. He smirks and takes off his jacket. Who would want to take off their jacket when it's this cold? He's crazy. He reaches up behind me and places his jacket around my shoulders gently. He's not crazy, he's sweet. I smile. "Thanks," I say quietly. He smiles back, "Sure," He says looking at me fondly. I turn my gaze back to the city. Hardly anyone's on the street now, the suns already well below the mountains by this time. But it's just light enough to see. "Pretty view aye?" The boy next to me notes with a hint of, what is that in his voice? Fear? Why would he be afraid?

"Yeah," I say nodding and watching him carefully. "What?" He says smiling even though he's obviously afraid. But why? "What are you afraid of?" I ask bluntly. He fiddles around stepping close to the rail then stepping back. "Um, n-nothing," He says nervously. "No, something's wrong, what is it?" I press for an answer. Even if we have just met I can still tell something's bothering him.

"I've watched the games my whole life," He says in that charming accent. He runs a hand through his thick blonde hair. "And I never seen a girl as pretty as you go in them, I just hope you win." He whispers. I shy away at the compliment. "Oh," Is all I can even think to say. This Capitol boy sure is an odd one. But I like him and hope to see him again. "Yeah, hey, we should get some shut eye don't you think?" The stranger asks looking to me curiously. I smile and nod stepping back from the rail. "Yeah, probably," I say back with a slight laugh. He winks and walks away into the darkness. I look to the city once more before going back down to my room.

I go in and shut the door, then remember I'm still in his jacket. I'll never find him now, I'll have to wait till morning and see if Meena knows him. I gently place the jacket on the coat rack before changing and crawling in bed.

The last thing to go through my mind was what's his name...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The music gets louder and louder until I hear nothing else. The suspense is killing me faster than the flesh eating giant bees. He's got to have it somewhere. But the pies in the window smoke a black smoke and clog my view of everything. I can't get up. There's no stopping them now, the Capitol people will dictate the world as well as Panem.

My eyes begin to tear up, water pours from them like a fountain. Drake is dead, Kenny is dead, my family is dead. What can they take from me now? My life. That's it. They'll kill me and that'll be it. I won't get to witness the end of the Capitol's rein. The taking down of their evil ways and Hunger Games.

The covers are yanked off fearlessly. My eyes jet open and water pours out. I jerk up in bed. There's no one in the room. But then who took off the covers? And more importantly was that all really just a dream? It seemed so real, the bees that ate at my flesh, it felt so real. But thankfully it wasn't. Thankfully I'm still in my room at the Training Center and not dying out in the woods someplace.

I throw my legs over the edge of my bed and walk to the closet. As I press the buttons I realize how much I'm shaking, that dream was horrific and I can only imagine what terrors the arena will bring. After getting dressed I walk down the halls to the dining room. A girl stands waiting alone. I don't know her, but I think she's the girl who served us our cake last night. She smiles at me and leads me to the buffet and lets me choose from their delicious variety of pastries. As I bite into one I recall Shimmery, the little girl starving back in District 8. Guilt floods my vanes as I finish it off. The poor girl is probably starved by now, if those cruel Peacekeepers haven't gotten to her already. I roll my eyes and then go sit on the couch wondering what I should do. I'm the only one up it would seem. I sigh and pick up a magazine that lies on the small table in front of me. Inside all there are are a bunch of pictures of big hairdos and fancy clothes. I slam the paper down and walk to the window. I see my reflection barely, I stare at myself all dressed up in Capitol clothes, at home I only ever had a nightgown and one pair of pants and a shirt. I didn't even have a jacket to wear when it was cold. A jacket, I remember that strange Capitol boy from the rooftop and how he gave me his jacket. I need to return it. Maybe he'll be on the roof today, oh, I doubt it. Why would he go back? Maybe to meet me and get his coat. I take a deep frustrated breath and play with the locket around my neck for a few moments.

A hand touches my shoulder and I jerk around to see Woof staring at me wide-eyed. "Where-where did you get that?" He asks sounding as if he might break down and cry at any given moment. "I-at the Trade Center back in my district," I explain confused. He takes the necklace and holds it gently. "It-I made this," He whispers gawking at the piece of jewelry. "You made this?" I ask for confirmation. Really I don't understand the coincidence of him making it and me getting it then meeting him and him telling me he made it. It's all very odd. "Yes, for a girl back home-" The memory obviously wasn't good. He lets go of the locket and turns away angrily. "They'll pay I swear," I catch him mutter.

"You made it for the girl in the picture?" I ask curiously. Woof turns around facing me full on, staring me down like he would a mad dog. "Yes, but that was a long time ago, before even I went into the games," He says looking away momentarily. He turns back to me, "Don't let them control you," He whispers. I'm not sure what he means but I nod. "You want to know what happened, how I lost it," He says speaking up. I nod shyly and we take seats on the couch.

"Her name was Allery, she was beautiful, my girlfriend you see, anyway I made that for her and promised we'd get married one day, she and I, we were two of a kind.

We shared many interests and hobbies, some I won't mention at this time, anyway one day, the reaping, I was chosen.

You know I won, but I never really 'won'," It doesn't make sense but I nod and he continues. "It seems the Capitol wants to punish every victor in some way or another, the punishment for me was-they killed Allery," I gasp and Woof puts a hand on my knee to steady himself. "They killed the love of my life and dumped her body in a junkyard," He says and my heart breaks for him. The pain it must've caused him to watch his one love die. "They gave her parents the necklace and they in turn gave it to me, but I couldn't handle to see it everyday, it only reminded me of her, so I got rid of it. I threw it out in the streets and guess who got it," He looks to the object around my neck and sighs. "It's just as well, I want you to keep it dear, remember, be careful," I nod slowly and he leaves as if nothing's just happened. He's odd but I guess one might go a little insane after watching the love of their life die.

Drake enters the room and plops down beside me. Before he says anything Woof walks back in followed by Tianna and Kenniathan.

"Ok, training is set to start today so lets talk strategy," Our mentor says taking a seat in a big comfy chair. It's strange how quickly he can jump from being all sad and depressed to being excited for the day. "Alright first, do y'all want to be coached together or separately? You know, in case one of ya has a secret skill you don't want the others to know about," He suggests. "I wanna be coached together!" Tianna is the first to decide. "Anyone else? Anyone wanna coach alone?" Woof presses as no one else answers. "I'll coach together," Kenniathan says with a shrug. I think he's an Air Bender, but I can't really remember. "I'll coach together," I look to Drake who shrugs meaning 'why not?'

"Yeah me too," I say simply. Woof smiles and nods. "Good, so what are your strengths? Tianna?" He says looking to the blonde haired child. "Uh, well, I'm not a bender you see, um, so nothing I guess," She says shyly. "Oh you've got something, what kind of weapon are you good with?" Woof presses surely. "Um, I'm good with a knife," She says honestly thinking hard. Woof nods. "And yours Kenniathan?"

"I'm an Air Bender," Kenny answers simple enough. "Have you had training?" Woof asks. "Some, my dad trains me sometimes, I can carve and make my own glider if I have wood, and I taught myself a few moves," A glider, I'd forgotten Air Benders used gliders. That may come in handy in the arena for him.

"Alright and what're your skills Katna?" Woof turns to me now. "Um, I'm a Shadow Bender, but uh, not many skills-" Suddenly Dake interrupts. "She's very skilled sir, she can bend the Shadow Bow, and the Shadow Sword, and she's even gone into the Shadow State before, she's the only one in our district who's ever gone into the Shadow State, no one else could," He says in defense. The only thing I can think to do is defend him as well. "Drake's good too, he's a Shadow Bender, he can make the Shadow Shield and the Shadow Sword, and he can even make the Shadow Whip," I make sure to tell Woof every skill Drake has. "But she's better, at everything," Drake whispers half to himself. "That's not true, I can't seem to figure out the Shadow Shield and I'm not very good aim with the bow," I say. This really isn't getting us anywhere, really. "You're perfect aim!" Drake says his voice rising. "Ok ok, well, we'll find out at training alright?" Woof says breaking up the argument. Drake and I look to each other with a slight laugh.

"But I advise you to keep the Shadow State secret during the general training session, only reveal that when it's your private session with the Gamemakers," Woof says. I nod slowly and understandingly. "Just pick up some useful skills in the group training, don't bother to show off as most others like to do," He goes on. We all nod. "Time for training," Woof says standing to leave.

Meena enters the room and leads us all to the place where the other tributes are gathered. All 44 of them. We enter awkwardly. It would seem we're the last ones here. I notice most all of them are bigger than me, and scary looking. A woman announcer steps up to a microphone on one side of the room.

"Attention tributes," She says into it. "Practice time starts, you may either head over to combat stations or learn some survival skills, have fun kids!" She says cheerily and then steps off the platform. I turn to my small group and we discuss which stations to visit. "We could also split up and go to different stations if we wanted." Drake suggests. "I don't know if I wanna learn skills or combat," Tianna says with a sigh. "Do both, go to one then go to the next," Kenny suggests. She brightens and then scampers away to what looks like the fire making station. "Hey Katna, lets learn some survival skills first," Drake says. I nod and follow him to a knot tying station. A lady sits at a small table and ties various knots and shows us all how to do it. I can't seem to get any of them right, and the ones I do get I forget once she moves on to the next.

With that station finally over we wander around looking for the next station. I was told training lasts over three days, this will be 'fun'. I roll my eyes. Most of the career tributes, including Castro, are just showing off. Drake and I stop at the camouflage station but soon leave as we have Shadowflage and don't need to learn to hide ourselves. We move on to the combat stations and are taught some basic skills.

We're eventually excused for lunch in the dining hall, it's a big place, I notice all the career tributes sit together and laugh and joke around. Drake had left my side earlier when he needed to use the bathroom, and before we met up

everyone was ushered here.

I get in line by myself and am served mashed potatoes smothered in gravy with green peas and chicken. It all smells wonderful. I look around the crowded room. All the careers are together but everyone else sits alone. I don't see Tianna or Kenniathan so I sit by myself. Maybe sitting alone is better, I can't be making friends with my enemies. As I eat I can't help but hear the conversations of the careers, they're so loud.

"Allies!" One shouts and they all cheer. "The bloodbath at the Cornucopia will be-" His voice dies down and I can't hear what he says next. They're all so perverted, they love the games and enter them gladly. I hate it, the games are so terrifying. A cup is slammed down on the table next to me. I slowly look up and my eyes meet Castro's. Great. He grins and sits next to me.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with the other careers?" I ask bluntly. "Nah, I'd much rather sit next to pretty girls," He says and touches my hair softly. I bat his hand away and turn back to my food deciding to ignore him completely. He just laughs and sips his juice or whatever it is in that cup.

"So, in the arena, you wanna be allies?" How could he even think I'd want to be his ally? Of all the stupid people in the world he is the worst. "No, being allies never lasts in the Hunger Games and besides that I'd never want to be your ally anyway," As I've finished my food I stand to leave but he grabs hold of my arm with a vice grip. "You will not walk out on me," He whispers angrily. My breathing increases and I look around for help. The careers are busy talking and everyone else just ignores us. My hearts racing why can't he take a hint and leave me alone?

"Come here Kitty Kat," He whispers and then purrs stepping closer. "Aye!" A voice from behind me yells. "Leave her alone man,"

I turn to see that Capitol boy from the rooftop enter the room. "What're you doing here?" I ask remembering that night when we talked on the roof. "I said leave her alone." He says with a determined look in his blue-green eyes. "Oh no she wants me here," Castro defies him. "No no! I don't he won't go away," I make sure and tell the Capitol boy.

"Back off," The Capitol boy shoves Castro and he's forced to release my arm. Castro pushes back but before anyone can do anything else the Capitol boy punches him in the gut and Castro falls to the ground.

"Are you ok?" The Capitol boy asks. Castro gets up wearily and stares at me. "I'm fine," I whisper simply. Castro struggles to his feet and sits at the table.

"Um, that was-"

"I'm sorry, I acted impulsively I probably shouldn't have hit him," The Capitol boy rubs his head nervously and looks to the ground in shame. "It's ok, thank you, I'm sure he'll leave me alone now," I say in his defense. The Capitol boy looks up and smiles at me.

"So what's your name? I can't keep referring to you as the Capitol boy," I say with a slight laugh. Here I go, making friends even though I'll probably never see him again. "The Capitol boy? I'm not-" Before he can finish Drake walks over and leans on me. "Hey, what's with him?" He gestures to Castro who still sits at the table clutching his stomach.

"Um, not much I'll tell you about it later," I say hurriedly so I can at least know this boys name before the lunch hour is over. "So? Your name?" I press as the Capitol boy is quiet. "Um, I gotta run," The blonde haired boy dashes off and out of the room before I can say anything to stop him. "Whoa, rude!" Drake announces playfully. I can't help but wonder why he ran off like that. What did I say?

Drake and I make our way back to training and this time learn to make a shelter.

After all that happened today I'm thoroughly exhausted by dinner time. I eat quickly not bothering to make conversation and then head to my room where I shower then flop into bed where I immediately fall asleep on contact with the pillow.

My sleeping is interrupted however, by my nightmares. I can't sleep now, the dreams are too real and too terrifying. I quietly get up and find a sweater then head out of the room. I just wander the halls and look at the decor around the center. Why is it that Capitol people are so rich? Why do they get it all and the districts get nothing? It's so unfair. There's only one person I've met here from the Capitol that actually has a heart. That boy from the roof. My curiosity grows bigger and bigger the more I think about how he ran away from me at the lunch room. What on earth happened to make him leave like that? I just can't think of any reason he'd run out on me. And suddenly I find myself on the roof, leaning on the rail looking out over the lighted city in an abyss of darkness.

I wish so badly my family could be here to see it with me. The beautiful lights, the delicious food. I miss them so terribly much. Life is so unfair it's just so maddeningly unfair! My hands form fists and I pound the rail. "Why?!" I yell to the open air. "Why is this all happening? Why was I sent here, why?" I scream then slide down to the ground, covering my head in my arms and sobbing. First time I've cried in years. I can't help myself it's just too much.

"This will all be over in the arena, I'll finally be put out of my misery," I whisper seemingly to no one. But as I think about it more, the people counting on me to come back, Merlin, what'll happen to him if I can't be there? And Zerek, who will he have to talk to? And Emilia, she needs Drake, what'll happen to his family if he doesn't come back? He provides for them, they need him they depend on him, and that's all going to be thrown away if he doesn't make it out of the arena? Why? Mom always said everyone has a purpose in life, so is his purpose to just live half a life then die in an arena? This isn't fair, nothing's fair.

I curl up tighter and just stay there, crying like nothin else.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hot air is blown softly into my ear, someone's whispering. To me. "Wake up please." The voice whispers gently. My eyes are open but I don't move. I just stare at the floor, my head buried and my arms crossed over my knees. "Please, before they come," The person whispers again. I flinch this time and slowly look up to meet the Capitol boys eyes looking at me sadly.

"Hey!" I sit up strait and stare. The question is immediately in my mind, why did he leave in such a hurry at the lunch place? "Hey, you've gotta go back to your room before they find you," He says quietly but quickly. He holds out a hand to help me up. But I don't take it, I just stand on my own looking at him questionably.

"Why did you leave?" I ask. He doesn't seem to know what I'm talking about. Suddenly I get a flashback of him standing not far from me, staring at me. He's leaving, but when I look back at him he's still staring, then he smiles. Where have I seen him before? I can't make the connection. I remember as clear as day him staring and smiling, but where were we?

"What?" He asks confused. "Yesterday, at the lunch room when I asked your name, when Drake came you just left, why?" I explain better. He just looks away. "I don't know," He says with a slight shrug. "I had to go,"

"But why?"

"I don't know," He looks at me directly in the eyes and it's like he's looking right through my soul. Just looking. I shy away from his look, turning around I gaze out over the city. It's early morning, fog rests just above the ground and a couple birds fly overhead. "I couldn't face what you might think-" I turn back to the Capitol boy and he walks closer leaning on the rail beside me.

"I might think of what?" I press curiously. He's not making any sense. This time he laughs and looks to me with a smile. "Nothing," He whispers. "Now lets go before you get in trouble," He takes my hand and smiles waiting for me to make a move. "Ok," I smile back at him. Someday I'll figure out where I've seen him. Hopefully it's before I die in the arena.

We walk down the stairs and back into the building. The Capitol boy leaves me at my room and I go inside. Waiting on the bed is Meena, I'm too late, here comes trouble. I sigh and flop down on a chair. "Where have you been young lady," She says with the 'I'm in charge' tone. "I was on the roof, I couldn't sleep last night, I just needed some air but I'm back ok," I tell her. She stands and heads for the door. "I'll expect you at breakfast, 8:00," I nod and she leaves.

After my late night I'm rather tired, so I climb in bed and soon fall asleep.

My sleep without dreams is rudely interrupted by Meena who says I need to come to breakfast. I slowly get up and dress, then head down for the morning meal. "Good grief you'd think you could be a little more cheerful at breakfast, or any meal for that matter," Meena says to me once we're sitting down. I set down my fork and glare at her. "What's there to be happy about?" I growl through my clenched teeth. I'm not usually in such a bad mood but today I just don't feel like talking to anyone or doing anything. "Well, I hope you're not as rude to the others in Group Training," Our blue haired escort says with a sigh and leaves the table angrily.

I don't care what she does right now. I just wanna go home, I'm sick of the Capitol and their rules and their colorful 'paradise' of cheerfulness. Everything here annoys me, I don't want to talk to anyone or do anything today. Why can't I just go home?

"Well, you guys better be off to training," Woof says breaking what must've been an awkward silence for everyone. "And what happens if we don't go?" I snap back slamming my spoon down in frustration. "Well, you have to, no questions asked," Our mentor answers calmly. I admire his patience but that's not what I need now. I just need to go home. "Lets go Katna," Drake whispers as he stands. Everyone else is ready to just go, but I don't want to move. I'm the only one still sitting at the table but I don't care. I don't want to do training. "Come on Katna," Kenniathan looks to me with pleading eyes. "Oh please, just leave me alone! I just wanna go home ok!" Maybe I shouldn't have yelled, maybe I should've just gone with them without another word. But now I've done it. Kenny turns away and leaves with Tianna. Drake just stares at me, arms crossed and eyes fixed stubbornly. "I know you miss home, I do too, but we're here, and we need to go," He says. I nod slowly and stand with a heavy heart. This sucks.

Day 2 of training. First I follow Drake to the combat stations, no fun, then we move to the plant station where we're taught which plants are edible and which are not. This one is actually really helpful, my father taught me a lot about plants and how to tell what's edible and what's not but there's a lot here that I didn't know, I guess he never got the chance to teach me the rest.

Well, after the plant station Drake and I move to the fire making station, but we were both taught a lot of bending moves in school, one of which is the ShadowFlame, so all we'd need to do in the arena is collect wood and then just bend some fire. So we move on to a station where they teach us how to fish. While the lady is in the middle of demonstrating something Drake leans over and whispers something unintelligible into my ear and points to the corner. A smile child is hiding behind a barrel of something. He's watching us. He looks way too young to be in the games, Drake and I watch him closely. Suddenly he leaves his hiding spot and rushes over behind a wall used for benders to hit.

He peeks his big brown eyes around the corner and looks directly at Drake. We quickly pretend we didn't see him, he quietly creeps closer and closer to watch us. Suddenly a man sneaks up behind the kid and grabs him, the little boy squeals and giggles. "Daddy!" He screams as the man, his father, lifts him in the air and says, "What're you doing down here Tanner?" The boy speaks in quieter tones so Drake and I don't hear what else he says. We turn back to the class being taught and soon the boy and father leave.

At lunch I look around in case the Capitol boy might be here again but he's not. This time Kenniathan and Tianna wander over and sit beside Drake and I.

"Katna?" Tianna turns to me with a shaky voice that instantly reminds me of the last time I saw Zinnia and she spoke like she was scared to death. "Yes?" I answer immediately.

"Um, I'm scared, to go in the arena, and I think I'll be one of the first to die, but since Woof thinks you'll win, I was wondering if you could give this to my little sister," She pulls from her pocket that yellow bow she'd worn when we were getting ready for Opening Ceremonies. "I-" I'm dumbfounded. This poor girl, she thinks I'll win and what if I can't? But I can't disappoint those pleading eyes. I take the bow from her shaky hands and squeeze it tight. "Yes," I answer with a smile. She half smiles too and goes back to eating.

My heart is literally breaking, she seems to know she's gonna die and she seems calm and ok with it. She's ok with never seeing her sister again or her mother or any other siblings she may have. She's so brave, I only wish I could be as brave and ok with it all. But I'm not, I won't be able to look anyone in the eye and watch them as they die because of me. I'm not a killer, maybe Drake's right, in order to survive I'll have to pretend the tributes are animals and I'm hunting them for my family. But I don't know if I can do that.

After lunch we resume training with everyone else. Everything goes just fine for the first half, until more combat this time with bending skills and Drake gets in trouble for making a kid almost freeze to death in his ColdShadow. He was just doing what everyone said, he was fighting one of the guys and he hit him with a Water Whip so Drake fought back. But he was taken to another room and I was told to go eat dinner and he'd be back soon.

I've waited and waited but Drake still isn't back. Meena and Tianna are on the couch watching an announcement or something on the television, while Kenniathan sits with Woof at the table just talking. I busy myself with counting how many golden haired people walk by out the window. Finally the door opens and Drake walks in looking glum.

"You ok?" I ask cautiously. "Yeah, fine," He answers simply and then grabs a cookie and flops onto a chair. "What'd they say?" I press curiously. He shrugs and finishes off his cookie before answering. "They basically said 'save it for the arena' and 'obey the Capitol' then left me alone to think," He says and then stands to leave. "Want any dinner?" I ask before he can walk away. He stops and turns around with a smile.

"Of course," He says and heads for the kitchen.

After everyone's had dinner and Meena gives tomorrow's schedule the once over we all head to bed. This time I won't let any scary dreams or thoughts of the unfair Capitol ruin my sleep. My eyes close once my head rests softly on the pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

**Few! Sorry for the long wait on this chapter, I was at camp all last week and still had to finish the chapter before uploading it so here you go! Oh also, thanks to Bubbles *something* I forgot exactly what the whole username was but thank you anyway for that review! I definitely had planned Katna to fight a Light Bender! Yeash! So anywho read on people's!**

**Chapter 5**

"Wake up!"

Meena's voice enters my head as I lay sleeping. "What?!" I demand feeling extremely tired and not at all wanting to get up. This is the deepest most comfortable sleep I've had since arriving here. Why can't she just leave me be? But no, she has to persist. "Get up! You overslept!" I didn't think I'd ever oversleep, I'm always the first one up. But I don't care if it's noon I still wanna sleep.

"So?" I say covering my head with the pillow. Meena yanks the covers off and grabs the pillow. "So, today is the private session with the Gamemakers! I need you up!" She argues continuously. I grunt and slowly sit up as my eyes adjust to the light. "Do we ever get to sleep in?" I ask as I scoot off the bed and walk to the closet. "Mm, in the arena it's permitted but I don't think you'd want to," I turn and glare at her, I know she was trying to be funny but that was horrid. She shies away and tells me to hurry before exiting the room.

I take a quick shower and hurriedly dress before running down the hall to breakfast. Unfortunately as I run down the hallway I bump right into Kenniathan. He smirks and says, "Morning, better hurry breakfast is almost closed." I nod and dash off before giving him the chance to start a conversation.

For breakfast I eat a cinnamon roll and drink some of that hot chocolate. Then Meena brings us all to the living room to tell us something. "Actually, you have this morning off, they'll be doing districts 1 through 6 for now, then at lunch I want you all back here where we'll talk before you head in for your private session. Got it?" She asks cheerfully. "Got it," I say mimicking her cheery attitude. Drake's the only one to laugh, Meena just gives me a hurt look and Tianna doesn't seem to understand. Kenny just ignores me completely.

He looks so good even when he's not smiling. Gosh dang it.

Morning is free, what to do... "Hey, wanna explore the Training Center?" Drake asks me hopefully. I grin and nod before we scamper off together. Down the hall from us is the room where District 9 is staying, and down from that it just looks like an empty hall, with maybe pictures lining them. "Lets see what's at the end," Drake suggests looking at it curiously. I look down the hall, it seems to go on forever I can't see the end, just a pit of blackness.

"Ok," I say shrugging. We both look at each other, smile, then race down the corridor.

We run and run through the red and gold lined walls and pictures of old men and women. As I glance closer at the frames as they rush by I realize they're pictures of all the presidents this country has ever had. I just catch a few of their names. Tray, Reeny, Gribble, Bays, Smith, Johnston, Obama, Bush. The rest are weird and fly by too fast for me to read as we run on down.

We've finally reached the end. The last picture is a strangely dressed man with white hair, the plaque reads 'Washington' and at the top says 'George' I've never heard a name like George before, it's so plain and odd. Drake and I stare at it. He's dressed so strange and the name, it's hard to believe that people used to look that way, I wonder what Panem was like when he was president. At the right is something written down the side, I brush away the dust and cobwebs that've gathered revealing the words 'United States of America'

"Drake look at this," I say pointing to it. "What do you think it means?" I ask blankly. He looks at it and shrugs. "I'm not sure," This hall is very dark, instead of lights a single torch gives off a faint glow. I flick up a ShadowFlame and move it around to see better.

"This can't be it." I hear Drake mumble. Turning around, I see he's just staring at the wall blankly. "What can't be it?" I ask for an explanation. "This-" He moves his hand around feeling the end wall. "This hallway can't just come to an end like this, there must be more," He persists. It is strange that this hall just ends like this without any side doors or anything but maybe it's purpose is just these pictures. "Drake," I say with a heavy sigh. "It is strange but maybe that's just how it-Whoa!" As I'm speaking Drake's fingers have found an indent in the wall. Pressing it, the whole thing starts to move.

"Hey!" A voice shouts from behind. Drake quickly lets go and straitens up standing beside me. "You kids aren't aloud back here get out!" An angry old man yells. "I'm warning ya!" He stands in the shadows unseen but suddenly light surrounds him. Not regular light, but fire, he's a Fire Bender. He waves his thick flames at us and we hurry away.

This time we walk down the hall of millions of presidents. It's cold down here, and very strange.

"I wanna find out what's in that room." Drake says to me once we're out of the hall. "Mmm, I don't know if that's such a good idea," I warn him suspiciously. He shrugs and the devious smile returns to his face. "What?" I ask also smiling. He looks at me with the 'I've got a plan' look but then turns away and says, "Nothing." I roll my eyes and laugh as he leads me around the center.

This time we go in the crystal elevator and ride to the twelfth floor. As we step outside I instantly recognize the District 12 female tribute. She has red hair and grey eyes that show absolute fear. She looks at us blankly for about two seconds then a look of recognition flashes in her eyes and she darts off like a frightened dear.

"Huh, that was odd," Drake notes half to himself before peaking around. "It was odd that she's obviously frightened of her fellow tributes? Who, by the way, are being sent to kill her." I tell him in that girls defense. I don't even know her, but I can understand her feelings of fear.

"Yeah, guess you're right, hey check this out!" Drake walks forward and dusts off an old book sitting on a small table in the corner. "What is it?" I ask. He shrugs and lifts the cover. He turns the first page. Blank. The second; blank. He flips through the entire thing, all of which the pages are blank.

"Ok, this place is weird," He says turning to the final page. "Wait!" I say stopping him from slamming the book closed. Written in small print near the bottom are the words 'Light: Yang'

"This could be a Light Benders book. You know how in school we're taught all this crap about all the benders?" Drake reminds me excitedly.

"Yeah,"

"Well, in one class they told us Light Benders can bend the light in a way to make it seem like something isn't there when it is, or make something that isn't there appear to be there," He explains flipping through the empty pages.

"So? What does this mean?" I ask feeling stupid for not understanding his logic. "It means they bent the light so it looks like there are no writings in this book. When the bender wants to read it, they bend the light and make the words appear," I nod my head slowly coming to realize what he's getting at."Wow, you're smarter than you look," I say and turn on my heel. "Thank y-hey!" I look back and stick my tongue at him before dashing off down the halls.

"Oh, hey, it's noon, better get back for lunch," Drake reminds me after we've explored the entire 12th floor. I glance at the clock and then nod. I follow my best friend back to the elevator and then down to our floor where we go to our quarters and meet for lunch.

"Good, you're all here, except Kenniathan, I wonder where he could be-" Meena announces as we walk through the door. "Haven't seen him," Drake answers with a shrug as he plops down on the couch. Meena just sighs and turns away. It's obvious she's frustrated.

"I'll go find him for you," I speak up. I feel bad that she's so tired of us, I mean she may try to hide it but we're a lot of work. "Thank you Katna," She says it like no ones ever done anything nice for her. I smile and hurry off. I have no idea where he'd be. After checking various places around the Training Center, I head to the roof on the slim possibility that he's there.

"Kenny, hey, Meena was wondering where you were," I say to the boy standing at the rail. He jets around and then smiles fondly. "Oh, ok, I was just taking in the scenery and wishing my family could see it." I walk over and stand beside him, gazing off into the distant hills. "Yeah, I know exactly how you feel," I say sympathetically. We haven't had much conversation since- things got complicated, but now I think I need to make an effort.

"So what's with you?" He suddenly asks. "What do you mean?" I counter eyeing him with suspicion. "You've been avoiding me lately and we hardly talk, and when I do say something you never smile, you seem to get all depressed and-difficult," I stare at him as if he's just shot me in the head. Can he really be serious? "Don't you know what you did?" I ask in awe of his ignorance. He just waits for me to continue. "Openly flirting with me while you had girlfriend, and not telling me about her, that hurt more than you could ever know." I say firmly.

"But I thought you knew," He tries to argue.

"Bull! I didn't know, how could I know? You never told me, and our mutual friends didn't even know, and if I did know I wouldn't have allowed myself to fall for you, I wouldn't have flirted and you shouldn't have flirted back!" I yell it all out. The things I've been holding in for so long, never telling anyone, I let it out.

"But-I couldn't help it, I fell in love with you Katna," I can't stop the surge in my gut when he rolls out my name. "Is that so? Then if you loved me why put me through that? Why didn't you just stop me and tell me you have someone? Telling me right away wouldn't have hurt because I didn't fall all the way, now I've fallen and can't go back. Now it's too late, you've broken me in a way that can't be fixed," I tell him in quieter tones.

He just stares at the railing, still, unmoving. "I don't know why I even offered to come look for you." I snap and walk away toward the stairs. "Wait!" I hear him call out. I stop and listen with my back turned to him. "I'm really sorry, ok, like I told you in class I feel like a jerk, no matter what you say I am a jerk. I should've told you yes, but-"

"But what?" I quietly demand, my hands forming fists as I wait for his reply. "She has a mental issue, alright, and I'm just afraid of what might happen to her if I break her heart." I can hear the crack in his voice. He's on the verge of a breakdown. Tears have gathered in my eyes but I don't let them flow. "And what, exactly, do you suppose will happen to her?" I ask not bothering to face him. "I-I don't know for sure." He says quietly. "Then we have nothing." I say and take a step toward the staircase that's only inches from my feet.

I feel Kenny's hand grip my shoulder, he's closer to me than I thought. He whirls me around and kisses me. He kisses me! We're going to a place where we will automatically become enemies and have to potentially kill each other, and he kisses me? I don't know what to feel. Despite everything that's happened and everything that's going to happen, I can't help but lose myself in this moment. Right here and now, I completely forget about the world and it's problems. Right here and now, the one I've been in love with for months is kissing me. And I'm kissing him back. Is this wrong? Is all of it wrong? It so is. But I can't help but love it. Who knew something so wrong could feel so right? We kiss for what seems like an eternity but what can only be a few seconds.

When he finally pulls back he just stares at me. "What was that?" I ask as the reality floods back to me. "That, was me telling you that I still love you, and I want to try and figure things out. Please, will you let me?" He whispers in a voice I can't refuse. "Y-yes," I say slowly, looking deep into his brown eyes. "Ok." He says and lets go. He steps past me and goes downstairs leaving me awestruck and confused. I shouldn't have said yes. After what he did- it's not that bad, maybe he truly and honestly thought I knew. But if so why did he still flirt? 'I couldn't help it Katna, I fell in love with you.' His words fill my head. Did he mean it? I think that kiss was a yes. Things are so complicated. I've had enough of this drama, why can't it stop? I wander back to the room for lunch. The only chair is between Kenniathan and Drake. So I take it. Kenny and I exchange awkward glances before digging in to the meal before us.

"Ok, so, the first one in is Tianna, then Drake, then Kenniathan, then Katna," Meena tells us once we've finished eating. "But not yet, now they're going through District 7, next is us," She continues on.

I haven't said a word yet. My mind has been too busy trying to process what happened on the roof just now. I really do love Kenny, but will it all be worth it? If he can flirt with me while he has a girlfriend what's to stop him from doing the same if we're together? That would be too painful for me to handle. But do I love him enough to give him a chance? Do I really?

"Oh! They've just finished! Tianna you're up! Go go!" Meena's happy voice breaks my thoughts. Tianna stands and leaves for her private session with the Gamemakers.

I sigh as the hours drag on. I hope I don't fail once I'm in there with the Gamemakers. That would be embarrassing. Tianna's already back and now Drake's in there. Next is Kenny, then me. Oh boy.

A couple more hours pass. Drake's back and now Kenny's in there. I take several deep breaths. The waiting is killing me.

Finally it's my turn. I walk through the doors awkwardly. No one notices me at first, but then a few glance at me but then go back to the free buffet in the gym. I take a nervous breath and look around. There's not much here, a few dummy's to beat up, some targets, a sack to punch. There are bright lights above, so my shadow is faint. But I improvise by taking the faded shadow and covering a couple of the lights making my shadow darker and therefore more powerful. At school they teach you all kinds of tricks, they tried teaching a bunch of us the Shadow State but oddly enough no one else could successfully enter it. But I could. I decide to save that part for last.

Right now I focus on using my other skills I was taught. I wrap the shadow around and swiftly create the ShadowSword. Using its powerful force I slice one dummy in half, then I drop the sword that slithers back to my shadow behind me. I quickly do a cartwheel, and drag my shadow up with my feet as I roll on my hands. Twitching my toes I send tiny knife-like shadows into another dummy puncturing it in so many places that if it were human it'd be dead.

Next I carefully create the ShadowBow and shoot several of the targets around the room successfully hitting the bullseye in every single one. Feeling proud of myself I turn to the Gamemakers. My smile fades. None of them have been paying attention except one guy who's obviously drunk. My anger slowly rises. How can they be so rude. Shadow Benders are known for many things, excellent hearing being one of them. I turn my head sideways and listen. They're talking about the previous districts kids and how good they were.

Last on my list: the Shadow State. I take a seat crisscross on the floor. I'll show them. I close my eyes and concentrate. I can feel the energy of my tattoos starting to come alive. The long trails across my arms, back, and legs all start to drive forward to my fists which are touching in front of me. The tattoos merge together and my eyes jet open. I know what I look like, my eyes glowing black, and between my fists a dark and white glow steadily growing bigger. My hair blows slightly in the wind thats gathered around me. I'm gradually getting more and more powerful. I can hear them, they've stopped talking and they all stare at me now. A grin spreads across my face and I start to hover above the ground. I hear gasps and whispers from the Gamemakers and I question wether they've seen this before.

Suddenly I stand, not on the ground, but on air. My feet are seemingly touching nothing and I float. I send a current of shadow out at another dummy and it's sliced in half from the waist. I kick up more shadow and knock down the targets that were hanging from the ceiling. Next I send one current down that cracks the floor. The last thing, I shoot a powerful Shadow Spear directly at the Gamemakers. It stabs into the wall behind the most fabulously dressed man, I hardened that one so it'll stay there as long as I want. Days even. I slowly drop to the ground as the wind dies down. My eyes stop glowing and all the darkness comes back to me and crawls away disappearing behind me. The smirk is still on my face as I stand there, all their eyes on me. I give them a wink and blow a 'kiss' to them before walking out.

They're shocked faces were so enjoyable. They were really scared of me. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. What if they were really scared of me? What if they decide to punish me? Or worse; my family. No, they can't! Well, they'll probably just give me a low score and I won't get any sponsors, but hell, they might not do even that. Oh it's torture not to know what'll happen. I can't believe what an idiot I am. I didn't think of the consequences of my actions. Something I normally over do. This can't be happening, they'll kill me.

I run back to the room and just ignore everyone who asks me what happened. I head strait to my room and slam the door, then flop on my bed. The more I think about it the worse I feel. I'm gonna have to tell Meena sometime.

I slowly rise and drag my feet as I head out for dinner. Everyone sits at the table waiting for me. I inwardly groan. I'm such a horrible person. I take my place and eat in silence, mentally deciding on how to tell them what happened.

"You're all awfully quiet." Woof says breaking the silence. His voice frightens me and I drop my fork. But I quickly retrieve it and act like nothing happened. "How bad did you do?" He asks. I know he's talking to all of us but it feels like he was speaking to me directly. "I don't know how I did," Tianna says with a sigh. "I just threw my knife at a bunch of targets until they said I could leave." Woof nods and ponders a moment before responding. "That's alright, I'm sure they thought you were amazing." He assures her with a smile. "And what about you Drake?" He turns to my best friend who shrugs without taking his eyes off his food. "I did ok I guess," He says quietly. "What did you do?" Woof presses. I'm dreading having to tell them what I did. But maybe if I do tell they'll know what'll happen to me. "I just made a few things from my shadow and trashed the place, then they said I could leave." For some reason I'm having a hard time believing that's all that happened. "Are you sure that's all?" Woof asks as if reading my mind. Drake shrugs still not bothering to make eye contact with anyone. "Drake-" I say worriedly. What did he do? It couldn't possibly be as bad as what I did. "Ok, I threw a Shadow Knife at one of the Gamemakers, he wasn't mad though, he just said I was free to go now," Meena gasps and Woof laughs. "Very well, what about you Kenniathan?" He asks still laughing slightly. I look at Kenny. He smiles at me and then tells Woof he just air bended till they dismissed him. "Katna?" I jolt and once more let go of my fork. I just stare a moment, not able to breathe. "Well?" Meena says slamming her cup down impatiently. I can't tell them. I'm afraid. "Oh no, Katna, what did you do?" Woof asks suddenly becoming pale. "I-I kind of-scared them-" I say at last. "Scared them how?" Woof's tone has taken on a threatening sound and he glares at me clenching his fists tightly around his silverware. "Um-they- they didn't pay attention to me ok! I'm sorry! They had no consideration for what I did at all! I-I just felt angry and I couldn't help-" I go off panicking. My heart races and I don't know what to do or say anymore. "But what did you do?!" Woof demands standing up and glaring at me harder. "I-I just-I went into the Shadow State and I-I broke the floor-and some dummy's-and I threw a spear at them-" I look down ashamed and almost in tears. I hear Woof take a seat silently. No one speaks. I'm waiting for them to yell at me and be angry and tell me I don't know what I've done and punishment will soon follow. But they don't. Not yet.

"What were you thinking?" Woof whispers in a raspy voice. I look to him, my eyes have teared up but they don't flow. "I wasn't." I say honestly. "What will they do?" I ask frightened. He laughs in mock of my ignorance. "They'll make your life in the arena hell," He says pointedly. He finally looks me in the eye. "But they know you have a good chance of winning now so they'll try and prevent that. I can't say for sure though. Maybe they liked you," That's a relief. I nod slowly and stare at the floor. "Well-" Meena stands and sighs. "Time to watch the announcements of the scores," She says in a defeated tone. I think I've disappointed her. I slowly drag my feet to the couch as everyone gathers around the television. Before I flop down Drake whispers in my ear that I'll be ok. I smile my silent thanks and take a seat.

He sits next to me and the TV is turned on. I watch silently as many unfamiliar faces flash across the screen. The careers scores are in the six and seven range and most others are four and under. District 7 has a pretty red haired girl who got a score of five and another red head girl who looks so much like the other that they have to be related. She got a three. They also have a brown haired boy who looks like wants to kill everyone. I'd say he's the perfect blood-thirsty tribute. He got an eight. I catch a glimpse of blonde hair for the other District 7 boy before the screen changes to our district. My heart skips a beat. Tianna got a four, "Not bad." Woof says patting her back as she smiles. Kenny got a six, wow. "And now, these two tributes from eight, I think they both have a good shot at winning, they would make a perfect team too bad there are no teams, only one winner." The announcer says and shows a picture of Drake next to one of me. I'm shocked, our scores. Ten and eleven, Drake did wonderful but me-eleven? That's gotta be a mistake they were afraid- "Looks like you did good for yourself," Woof says smiling at me. I nod slowly as I realize there is no mistake. Drake and I will surely have to kill each other to win.

I inwardly scream at myself and the world. I hate them all. I don't pay much attention to the rest of the scores, I just pity myself for having to go through this. Finally the TV is turned off and it's time for bed. I follow Drake to his room and hug him tight before going to my own room and falling asleep in that big comfy bed. It's almost too much to bear.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guyz, this chapter is really really REALLY short. And I'm not sure if I like it. Hmm. But the next one will be better. Maybe. Anywho enjoy and Happy Reading!**

**Chapter 6**

I sit up in bed and stretch. I don't really want to get up, but I know I have to. I quickly shower and then dress before going out to breakfast. I take my place and note that the two boys aren't here. "Morning Katna," Woof says with a warm smile. I smile back as I heap my plate with delicious food. "So, when will we start prepping for the interviews?" I ask and then take a bite of some peas. "Well, just as soon as you've finished eating." Woof answers in a happy mood. I'm not sure why he's in such a good mood but oh well, at least he's not in a bad one. "Where are the boys?" I ask reading his expression. "They already ate." Our mentor says with a shrug. I look at the clock on the wall. 8:30. They must've been up really early for me to of missed them. I shrug it off and finish my food.

Afterwards Meena takes me and Tianna and teaches us how to look while we're there. "Don't forget to smile," She says. "The audience needs to love how you look, Woof will teach you how to act, but for now focus on looks. Give me your best smile," She instructs. I give her a fake sarcastic smile while Tianna gives her her normal smile. "No no, it's no good, like this-" Meena demonstrates the 'perfect smile' and we both copy her. "Very good," She says feeling successful. I roll my eyes. This is boring. "Now, eye contact is very important when you're speaking with anyone. Make sure to look him in the eyes a lot when he's talking and also, gesturing, gesturing is important." She rambles on. "When you speak be sure to use hand motions if you can, that's good, and don't forget to smile! The audience won't like you if you're scowling all the time." She explains and both Tianna and I nod. "Even if you don't feel like smiling and being happy you must pretend. You will want sponsors in the arena and to get them you must get the audience to love you. Got it?" She asks hopefully. "Got it." Tianna and I say simultaneously. Next is the session with Woof.

"Ok, first off," He begins. "They may ask you about yourself, in fact they will ask you about yourself, and they might ask you about your family-"

"Whoa. I am not gonna go up there and talk about my family." Tianna speaks up crossing her arms over her chest. Woof sighs. "It's ok, you can do it," He assures her. "No! I can't!" She argues. "It's alright Tianna," I say. "You'll do fine." She sighs, nods, and slumps down in a chair. "Ok, Katna, tell me a little about yourself," Woof says looking to me. I gulp. "What do you want to know?" I ask shyly. "This isn't good, don't be shy, be strong be-um, be tough." He tells me. I take a breath and nod. "Now, Katna, tell us a little about yourself," He starts again. "What is it you want to know?" I ask putting on a tough sounding voice. "No no, ok, toughs not working, lets try something different," I throw my hands up in frustration. I can't be what he wants. We try being cocky. Not working. He tries getting me to be humble, witty, funny, sexy. Nothing is working for us. Not even being mysterious. "Katna, we've got to work this through, um, lets see-" He thinks hard trying to find an act for me to follow. I keep disappointing him, and I wish I could meet his approval but none of those are me. I'm not funny, witty, or sexy. I'm just me. My hand reaches up and I clasp my locket. I begin to wonder what Woof's girlfriend was like, I wish she didn't have to die, that was tragic. "Lets try Tianna for a little while," He suggests. So we help her pick a way to act. She gets funny right smack down, she's great at all of them but Woof settles for funny. I sigh and can't help but feel a little jealous. She can be what he wants. But I can't. "We'll work on you later Katna," Woof says. "We've waisted the whole morning already, go have some lunch and we'll decide things later." Woof says sounding a little disappointed. I nod and walk back to my room and eat lunch alone.

Why can't I do anything right? I regret the last time I saw my mother. I yelled at her, I was sort of mean. Although, I did tell her I loved her before she left. Maybe she's doing alright. I hope Zinnia, Merlin, and Zerek are being well cared for. I sigh. My brothers sixteen, he can provide for them. All of them. Suddenly I start to wonder where Drake really was at breakfast. Maybe he did eat early but then where did he go? Oh well, it's not my business what he does. He may be my best friend but no matter how close we are he can still do whatever he wants and I have no say in it.

I remember the first time we hunted in the woods together. My father had cut the hole in the fence years before Drake and I hunted together. He would take me out and teach me about the woods and animals. So after he died one day I decided to go out to the woods again. Drake and I had already met, we grew up together and went to school together, but he was always a grade above me being two years older. Anyway, I went out to the woods alone for the first time since my father couldn't take me. I liked it out there so I went back everyday. Four days of this before I finally saw Drake, I was holding my Shadow Bow ready to strike a dear but it ran. I was a little sad and that's when I saw him, he was setting a trap over beside a bush. I wandered closer but I guess he felt my shadow coming and he whirled around and grabbed onto my shoulder. 'Its you,' He said in awe. I nodded frightened and he let go. Then he led me around and showed me all his traps. I never knew how to set a perfect trap so he showed me. I was very shy, but he liked to talk. After we checked all his traps and took all the food he caught we decided to come back everyday and hunt together. Since then we've been best friends.

After lunch it's more time with Woof. Again, I can't be what he wants. I try my very best to be the girl he wants me to be but I just can't. "Why is this so difficult for you?!" He yells at last finished with my idiocy. "I'm sorry!" I yell back. "But I just can't be something I'm not! I've never been funny and I'm certainly not sexy and I can't be humble to save my life! It's just not going to work!" I yell and then turn away in complete anger. Woof doesn't speak. I almost decide to leave but something stops me. "Maybe-" Woof says at last. "Maybe you should just be yourself then," He says and I turn back to face him. He looks tired and worn. Like he could collapse at any minute from exhaustion. "Just answer questions honestly and be your own personality." He says and then walks away. I take a deep breath and think about what he said. Maybe I should just be myself. Maybe they'll like me for me. I eat dinner quickly and then wander the halls of the Training Center not wanting to go to bed. I know it's late. The suns gone down and stars twinkle brightly out the window.

I walk to one window and just stare out. I wonder if my family might be looking at the same stars now. The same moon, the same dark sky. I feel in my heart a deep longing to be with them again. It's deeper than I've ever had. I miss them so much my heart is literally being ripped in half. A tear escapes my eye and I don't bother to wipe it away. "Katna." A ghost-like voice whispers from behind. "Who-who's there?" I ask spinning around. It's no one. I'm probably hearing things. I turn back to my window and jump back as a pale face stares me down. The figure has white hair, two pieces are braided by her shoulders, some is pulled up in two loops atop her head. More is flowing behind. She has a clip in her hair that has the picture of the crescent moon and some waves of water. She's got blue eyes and a white dress. She just watches me. Her hair is blowing but there's no wind. I step closer and look down. She's floating! She's not standing on anything she just floats! And there's a glow around her, it makes her seem radiant and even more beautiful than she is.

"Do not be afraid," She says in an echoey soft voice. "Wh-who are you?" I dare to ask. "I am a spirit. Surely you've been told of the spirits before?" She says in a girly tone. She giggles slightly and then becomes serious. "Yes, I was taught in school about the spirits," I tell her staring in awe. "Yue." She says. I don't know what that means but ok. "You don't have to be afraid at the interviews, or in the arena." She says. Her voice is so calm and soothing. It makes me feel safe and like I have a guardian protecting me at all times. "The spirits will help you, you will be safe." She says. "What about Drake? Will he be safe too?" I ask hope returning to me. Her smile fades and so does her glow. She starts moving away from the window sill. "Sadly not all things can be saved." She whispers and then starts to disappear. "Wait!" I yell. "I don't wanna be saved if he's not! Wait!" But she's gone. I breakdown and sob. I refuse to believe she'll save me from the arena. I won't be saved if my best friend can't be saved as well.

I slowly pick myself up and drag my feet to bed. I get dressed and crawl in bed, sleep soon follows with dreams of evil spirits and the arena. Blood everywhere and Drake, dead.


End file.
